Table of Contents:
Horace Silver: The Top 25 pearls in Jazz history
Horace Silver biography
From the perspective of the 21st century, it is clear that few jazz musicians had a greater impact on the contemporary mainstream than Horace Silver. The hard bop style that Silver pioneered in the ’50s is now dominant, played not only by holdovers from an earlier generation, but also by fuzzy-cheeked musicians who had yet to be born when the music fell out of critical favor in the ’60s and ’70s.
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Silver’s earliest musical influence was the Cape Verdean folk music he heard from his Portuguese-born father. Later, after he had begun playing piano and saxophone as a high schooler, Silver came under the spell of blues singers and boogie-woogie pianists, as well as boppers like Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell.
In 1950, Stan Getz played a concert in Hartford, Connecticut, with a pickup rhythm section that included Silver, drummer Walter Bolden, and bassist Joe Calloway. So impressed was Getz, he hired the whole trio. Silver had been saving his money to move to New York anyway; his hiring by Getz sealed the deal.
Silver worked with Getz for a year, then began to freelance around the city with such big-time players as Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, and Oscar Pettiford. In 1952, he recorded with Lou Donaldson for the Blue Note label; this date led him to his first recordings as a leader. In 1953, he joined forces with Art Blakey to form a cooperative under their joint leadership.
The band’s first album, Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers, was a milestone in the development of the genre that came to be known as hard bop. Many of the tunes penned by Silver for that record — “The Preacher,” “Doodlin’,” “Room 608” — became jazz classics.
By 1956, Silver had left the Messengers to record on his own. The series of Blue Note albums that followed established him for all time as one of jazz’s major composer/pianists. LPs like Blowin’ the Blues Away and Song for My Father (both recorded by an ensemble that included Silver’s longtime sidemen Blue Mitchell and Junior Cook) featured Silver’s harmonically sophisticated and formally distinctive compositions for small jazz ensemble.
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Silver’s piano style — terse, imaginative, and utterly funky — became a model for subsequent mainstream pianists to emulate. Some of the most influential horn players of the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s first attained a measure of prominence with Silver — musicians like Donald Byrd, Woody Shaw, Joe Henderson, Benny Golson, and the Brecker Brothers all played in Silver’s band at a point early in their careers. Silver has even affected members of the avant-garde; Cecil Taylor confesses a Silver influence, and trumpeter Dave Douglas played briefly in a Silver combo.
Silver recorded exclusively for Blue Note until that label’s eclipse in the late ’70s, whereupon he started his own label, Silveto. Horace Silver’s ’80s work was poorly distributed.
During that time he began writing lyrics to his compositions, and his work began to display a concern with music’s metaphysical powers, as exemplified by album titles like Music to Ease Your Disease and Spiritualizing the Senses. In the ’90s, Silver abandoned his label venture and began recording for Columbia.
With his re-emergence on a major label, Silver once again received a measure of the attention his contributions deserve. Certainly, no one ever contributed a larger and more vital body of original compositions to the jazz canon. Silver died in New York on June 18, 2014, at the age of 85.
He had a son, Gregory – now a rap musician under the name of G Wise – from his marriage to Barbara, which ended in divorce.
Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver, pianist and composer, born 2 September 1928, died 18 June 2014.
Selected Discography
Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers, Blue Note, 1954
Blowin’ the Blues Away, Blue Note, 1959
Song For My Father, Blue Note, 1964
Cape Verdean Blues, Blue Note, 1965
The Hardbop Grandpop, GRP, 1996
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Horace Silver – Blowin The Blues Away
Personnel:
Horace Silver – piano
Blue Mitchell – trumpet
Junior Cook – tenor saxophone
Gene Taylor – bass
Louis Hayes – drums
from the album ‘BLOWIN’ THE BLUES AWAY’ (Blue Note Records)
Artist or Composer / Score name | Cover | List of Contents |
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Bill Dobbins – BLUES The Jazz Workshop Series | Bill Dobbins – BLUES The Jazz Workshop Series (Standards & Originals All Blues | |
Bill Dobbins – Jazz Arranging and Composing | Jazz arranging and composing | |
Bill Dobbins – The Contemporary Jazz Pianist V. 1 | Bill Dobbins – The Contemporary Jazz Pianist Vol.1 | |
Bill Dobbins – The Contemporary Jazz Pianist V. 3 | contemporary jazz pianist vol 3 | |
Bill Dobbins – The Contemporary Jazz Pianist Vol. 2 | Bill Dobbins – The Contemporary Jazz Pianist Vol.2 | |
Bill Dobbins – The Contemporary Jazz Pianist Vol.4 | Bill Dobbins – The Contemporary Jazz Pianist Vol.4 | |
Bill Dobbins Classic Standards Series Piano | Bill Dobbins Classic Standards Series Piano | |
Bill Dobbins The Jazz Workshop Series Vol 1 Modal Jazz | ||
Bill Douglas Azure | Bill Douglas Azure | |
Bill Douglass Autumn song | Autumn song | |
Bill Douglass Prelude | Bill Douglass Prelude | |
Bill Evans Jazz Music For Classical Guitar | Bill Evans Jazz Music For Classical Guitar | |
Bill Evans Alice In Wonderland | ||
Bill Evans Autumn Leaves, Solo Transcription | Bill Evans Autumn Leaves, Solo Transcription | |
Bill Evans Autunm Leaves | ||
Bill Evans Blue In Green | ||
Bill Evans Interplay (Piano Solo Sheet Music Transcription) | Bill Evans Interplay (Piano Solo Sheet Music Transcription) | |
Bill Evans Laurie | ||
Bill Evans Like Someone In Love Transcription From The Album Time Remembered (Sheet Music) | Bill Evans Like Someone In Love Transcription From The Album Time Remembered (Sheet Music) | |
Bill Evans Waltz For Debby (Complete Version) | ||
Bill Evans When I Fall In Love Victor Young | ||
Bill Evans – Time Remembered 14 Piano transcriptions | Bill Evans – Time Remembered 14 Piano transcriptions | |
Bill Evans – Alfie (Piano transcription) | ||
Bill Evans – Alice in Wonderland | Bill Evans – Alice in Wonderland | |
Bill Evans – Autumn Leaves | Bill Evans – Autunm Leaves | |
Bill Evans – Autunm Leaves (As Recorded by) | Bill Evans – Autunm Leaves (As Recorded by) | |
Bill Evans – B minor Waltz (for Ellaine) | ||
Bill Evans – Blue in Green (Piano transcription) | ||
Bill Evans – Danny Boy, by Frederic Weatherly (Bill Evans Jazz version) | Bill Evans – Danny Boy, by Frederic Weatherly (Bill Evans Jazz version) | |
Bill Evans – Emily Bass sheet music | ||
Bill Evans – Ev’rything I Love (sheet music transcription) | ||
Bill Evans – Everything Happens to me – a musical biography by Keith Shadwick (Book) | ||
Bill Evans – Gone with the wind transcription | ||
Bill Evans – In a Sentimental Mood – Piano solo transcription | ||
Bill Evans – Midnight Mood by Joe Zawinul | Bill Evans – Midnight Mood by Joe Zawinul | |
Bill Evans – My Foolish Heart by Victor Young | Bill Evans – My Foolish Heart by Victor Young | |
Bill Evans – My Funny Valentine (Transcription) Jazz Standard sheet music | ||
Bill Evans – Never Let Me Go (Piano transcription) | ||
Bill Evans – Never Let Me Go (Piano Transcription) (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Bill Evans – One for Helen | Bill Evans – One for Helen | |
Bill Evans – Only Child transcription | ||
Bill Evans – Piano Solos | Bill Evans Piano solos | |
Bill Evans – Rare Transcriptions 3 | Bill Evans – Rare transcriptions vol. 3 sheet music | |
Bill Evans – Rare transcriptions vol.1 | Bill Evans – Rare transcriptions vol.1 sheet music | |
Bill Evans – Rare transcriptions vol.2 | Bill Evans – Rare transcriptions vol. 2 sheet music | |
Bill Evans – Remembering The Rain.mscz | ||
Bill Evans – Santa Claus Is Coming To Town | ||
Bill Evans – Signature Licks – Piano Transcriptions | Bill Evans – Signature Licks – Hal Leonard – Piano Transcriptions | |
Bill Evans – Skating in Central Park (Solo) from Undercurrent with Jim Hall | ||
Bill Evans – Someday My Prince Will Come from Portrait in Jazz sheet music Transcription | Bill Evans – Someday My Prince Will Come from Portrait in Jazz sheet music Transcription | |
Bill Evans – Star Eyes (melody transcription) from The Universal Mind of Bill Evans | Bill Evans – Star Eyes (melody transcription) from The Universal Mind of Bill Evans (first page sample) | |
Bill Evans – Star Eyes (melody transcription) from The Universal Mind of Bill Evans.mscz | ||
Bill Evans – The 70’S Solo Piano | Bill Evans – The 70’S, Solo Piano | |
Bill Evans – The Artistry Of (Songs And Improvisation Transcription) | Bill Evans sheet music | |
Bill Evans – The Dolphin piano solo transcription | Bill Evans – The Dolphin piano solo transcription | |
Bill Evans – The Dolphin Transcription sheet music | ||
Bill Evans – The Last Compositions | Bill Evans – The Last Compositions | |
Bill Evans – Theme From Mash | ||
Bill Evans – Turn out the Stars | Bill Evans – Turn out the Stars_compressed | |
Bill Evans – Turn Out The Stars – Bill Evans (Transcription) Jazz Standard sheet music (from Some Other Time) | Bill Evans – Turn Out The Stars – Bill Evans (Transcription) Jazz Standard sheet music | |
Bill Evans – Very Early | ||
Bill Evans – Very Early Live In Paris [1972] solo transciption | ||
Bill Evans – We will meet again from The 70’S Solo Piano | ||
Bill Evans (1969) Emily sheet music transcription | ||
Bill Evans 4 New Versions Of Bill Evans Tunes Taken From His Recordings | Bill Evans_4 New Versions Of Bill Evans Tunes Taken From His Recordings | |
Bill Evans And The Craft Of Improvisation | Bill Evans craft improvisation | |
Bill Evans Autumn Leaves (as played in Portrait in Jazz) complete transcription | Bill Evans Autumn Leaves (as played in Portrait in Jazz) complete transcription | |
Bill Evans But Beautiful transcription | Bill Evans But Beautiful transcription | |
Bill Evans Collection For Solo Guitar | Bill Evans Collection For Solo Guitar | |
Bill Evans Emily | ||
Bill Evans Fake Book (60 original transcriptions) | Bill Evans Fake Book (60 original transc.) — Bill Evans Fake Book | |
Bill Evans Five | ||
Bill Evans How My Heart Sings – as played by Bill Evans | Bill Evans How My Heart Sings – as played by Bill Evans | |
Bill Evans How My Heart Sings By Pettinger Peter (Book) | ||
Bill Evans Jazz Piano Transcriptions | Bill Evans Jazz Piano Transcriptions | |
Bill Evans Jim Hall – Romain from Undercurrent | ||
Bill Evans Like Someone In Love sheet music transcription (1962 Sessions) | Bill Evans April Like Someone In Love sheet music transcription (1962 Sessions) | |
Bill Evans Midnightmood | ||
Bill Evans Nardis (Bill Evans Trio) | ||
Bill Evans Oleo | Bill Evans Oleo | |
Bill Evans Omnibook For Piano Transcribed exactly from his recorded solos | Bill Evans Omnibook For Piano Transcribed exactly from his recorded solos | |
Bill Evans Piano Interpretations | Bill Evans-Piano Interpretations sheet music library | |
Bill Evans Piano Solo Transcriptions | Bill Evans Piano Solo Transcriptions | |
BILL EVANS Plays – Original Compositions Solo Transcriptions | Bill Evans Plays | |
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Bill Evans Plays Standards | Bill Evans Plays Standards sheet music | |
Bill Evans Quiet Now (Jazz Standard) Transcription | ||
Bill Evans Santa Claus Is Coming To Town Transcription | ||
Bill Evans Solo Sessions Vol 1 Everything Happens To Me | ||
Bill Evans Solo Sessions Vol 2 What Kind Of Fool Am I | ||
Bill Evans Solo Sessions Vol1 April In Paris | ||
Bill Evans Songbook Jazz Piano Solos Series, Volume 19 (Bill Evans) | Bill Evans Songbook Jazz Piano Solos Series, Volume 19 (Bill Evans) | |
Bill Evans Stella By Starlight Jazz Standard The Bill Evans Trio Vol 2 Transcription | ||
Bill Evans Tenderly Everybody Digs | Bill Evans Tenderly Everybody Digs | |
Bill Evans The Bill Evans Trio Vol 1 | bill-evans-trio-Volume 1 1956-1961-transcriptions sheet music | |
Bill Evans The Bill Evans Trio Vol 2 | Bill Evans The Bill Evans Trio Vol 2 | |
Bill Evans The Bill Evans Trio Vol 3 | Bill Evans The Bill Evans Trio Vol 2 | |
Bill Evans Time Remembered (lead sheet) | Bill Evans Time Remembered | |
Bill Evans Transcription sheet music of April, 1962 Sessions Danny Boy | ||
Bill Evans Transcription sheet music of April, 1962 Sessions Easy To Love | ||
Bill Evans Transcription sheet music of April, 1962 Sessions In Your Own Sweet Way | ||
Bill Evans Transcription sheet music of April, 1962 Sessions Like Someone In Love | ||
Bill Evans Transcription sheet music of Everybody Digs Peace Piece | ||
Bill Evans Transcription sheet music of New Jazz Conceptions Waltz For Debby | ||
Bill Evans Transcription sheet music of Solo Sessions Vol.1 Medley My Favourite Things, Easy To Love, Baubles, Bangles And Beads | ||
Bill Evans Transcription sheet music of Solo Sessions Vol.2 I Loves You, Porgy (Complete Transcription) | ||
Bill Evans Transcription sheet music of Solo Sessions Vol.2 Love Is Here To Stay | ||
Bill Evans Transcription sheet music of Solo Sessions Vol.2 Medley Autumn In New York, How About You | ||
Bill Evans Transcription sheet music of Solo Sessions Vol.2 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town | ||
Bill Evans Transcriptions (Own Tunes and tunes by Earl Zindars) | Bill Evans Transcriptions (Own Tunes and tunes by Earl Zindars) | |
Bill Evans Trio – Jazz improvisation (Transcriptions) | Bill Evans Trio – Jazz improvisation (Transcriptions) | |
Bill Evans Turn Out Star | ||
Bill Evans We Will Meet Again | ||
Bill Evans When I Fall In Love | ||
Bill Evans You Go to my Head Piano solo (Omnibook For Piano Transcribed exactly from his recorded solos) Haven Gillespie J. Fred Coots | Bill Evans You Go to my Head Piano solo (Omnibook For Piano Transcribed exactly from his recorded solos) Haven Gillespie J. Fred Coots | |
Bill Evans- Body And Soul Transcription | ||
Bill Frisell – St. Louis Blues Guitar Solo Transcription | Bill Frisell – St. Louis Blues Guitar Solo Transcription | |
Bill Frisell An Anthology | Bill Frisell An Anthology | |
Bill Frisell Guitar Artisrty | Bill Frisell Guitar Artisrty |