The music on this 1997 two-CD set was originally on two LPs and already previously reissued as a pair of CDs. Guitarist Kenny Burrell leads a very coherent jam session in the studio with a particularly strong cast that also includes trumpeter Louis Smith, both Junior Cook and Tina…
Kenny Burrell and Art Blakey played together infrequently during their careers, so this meeting of jazz minds is a welcome occasion. A rather short set issued here from club dates at the Five Spot Cafe in New York City must have meant there were other nights of recordings that…
This 1973 album features the legendary jazz drummer Elvin Jones in a rather unique musical setting. Joined by a large band (not to be mistaken with what is known in jazz as a “big band”), Jones knocks down the walls that separate jazz from rock, jazz from avant garde,…
Veteran altoist Jackie McLean was not familiar with pianist Junko Onishi’s playing until shortly before recording this quartet CD (which also includes bassist Nat Reeves and drummer Lewis Nash), but he was apparently pleased with how she sounded. Onishi’s bop-oriented style (which sometimes uses more complex chord voicings) fits…
This obscure Horace Silver LP features two separate sessions by the pianist/composer. On three selections he is joined by trumpeter Randy Brecker, tenor great Michael Brecker, Bob Cranshaw on electric bass and drummer Mickey Roker. The other four numbers feature vibraphonist David Friedman in a quartet with Silver, Cranshaw…
One of the last great Horace Silver albums for Blue Note, Serenade to a Soul Sister is also one of the pianist’s most infectiously cheerful, good-humored outings. It was recorded at two separate early-1968 sessions with two mostly different quintets, both featuring trumpeter Charles Tolliver and alternating tenor saxophonists…
After the success of Song for My Father and its hit title cut, Horace Silver was moved to pay further tribute to his dad, not to mention connect with some of his roots. Silver’s father was born in the island nation of Cape Verde (near West Africa) before emigrating…
The 1957 Horace Silver Quintet (featuring trumpeter Art Farmer and tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley) is in top form on this date, particularly on “My One and Only Love” and their famous version of “Home Cookin’.” All of Silver’s Blue Note quintet recordings are consistently superb and swinging and, although…
Released on CD as part of the limited-edition Blue Note Connoisseur series, United States of Mind represents pianist and composer Horace Silver’s sprawling trilogy of thematically linked albums recorded between 1970 and ’72: That Healin’ Feelin’, Total Response, and All. To say that these albums were misunderstood is to…
The first classic album by the Horace Silver Quintet, this CD is highlighted by “Señor Blues” (heard in three versions, including a later vocal rendition by Bill Henderson) and “Cool Eyes.” The early Silver quintet was essentially the Jazz Messengers of the year before (with trumpeter Donald Byrd, tenor…