Among the funky piano players in modern jazz, Horace Silver reigns supreme. A master at composing simple, memorable tunes for the hard bop quintet, his resoundingly soulful compositions such as “Filthy McNasty,” “Senor Blues,” “Song for My Father,” “Nica’s Dream,” and “Opus de Funk” have become staples in the jazz canon. Silver and drummer Art BLAKEY are the two jazz artists most responsible for emphasising the “hard” part of hard bop.
Silver was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, on September 2, 1928, and raised there mainly by his father, a Portuguese folk musician (his mother died when he was ten). He studied piano and saxophone in high school, and moved on to heading a piano trio that backed musicians visiting local clubs. One such visitor, Stan GETZ, sat in with Silver’s trio in 1950 and was impressed enough to ask the pianist to join him on tour. Silver took to the road with Getz, making his first recorded appearance with the star in 1951. Then Silver relocated to New York City. From 1951 to 1954 Silver worked as a pianist and composed for small groups led by Blakey, Coleman HAWKINS, Oscar Pettiford, and Lester YOUNG, recording with Lou Donaldson and Miles DAVIS. He also began to record as a bandleader, most notably with Blakey.
The Horace Silver Quintets of 1954 and 1955—with Donald Byrd or Kenny Dorham on trumpet, Silver, Blakey, tenor Hank Mobley, and bassist Doug Watkins—were the seminal hard bop quintets of the mid-1950s. Silver’s compositions, most notably “Quicksilver” and “The Preacher,” could be described by the loose term “funky.” At their core lay a mixture of gospel and blues (frequently in the “call-and-response” format of the African-American church) riding roughshod over frenetic, hard-rocking beats. These quintets became the foundation for Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers when Blakey and Silver split up in 1956. Along with gospel, blues, and jazz, Silver was one of the first composers to incorporate the influence of Caribbean music into jazz.
Recording for Blue Note from 1953 to 1981, Silver became an acknowledged master at composing and arranging for what became the prototypical bop quintet (tenor saxophone, trumpet, bass, piano, and drums). He was a soloist fond of sly references, emotional forthrightness, and strong emphasis on the “blueness” of the notes. As an accompanist, Silver tried, he said, to “goose” soloists into more explosive playing. Among the memorable works produced by Silver in this period were Doing the Thing: Live at the Village Gate (1961), Silver’s Serenade (1963), and Song for My Father (1964).
Silver’s albums began to include more songs with vocals and lyrics toward the end of the 1960s. His 1970s albums often featured expanded groups including guitars and singers (The United States of Mind) and larger instrumental ensembles (Silver & Strings, Silver & Voices, Silver & Percussion). In 1981 he founded his own label, Silveto Records, then signed with Columbia in 1993.
The Horace Silver Quintet has served as a travelling “finishing school” for jazzmen. Its alumni include Blue Mitchell, Joe HENDERSON, Hank Mobley, Kenny Dorham, Clifford BROWN, Donald Byrd, Benny Golson, Randy and Michael Brecker, Woody Shaw, Louis Hayes, and Art Farmer.
Silver became one of the first hard bop pianists, playing a funky mixture of gospel and blues, which greatly influenced contemporaries such as Ray CHARLES, Herbie HANCOCK, Bobby Timmons, Ramsey Lewis, Bill EVANS, and Les McCann. He is one of the premier composers for the modern jazz quintet, and stripped away much of the multi-note complexity of bebop to employ a more direct, percussive, and on-the-beat approach with charming humour and humanity.
Chris Slawecki
SEE ALSO:
BEBOP; FUNK; HARD BOP; JAZZ.
Lyons, Len. The Great Jazz Pianists
(New York: Da Capo Press, 1989).
Blowin’ the Blues Away;
Hard-Bop Grandpop;
Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers.