pianist; composer
Personal Information
Born Horace Ward Martin Tavares, September 9, 1928, in Norwalk, CT; son of John Tavares (factory worker) and Gertrude (a domestic worker).
Career
Discovered by Stan Getz in 1950 and performed and recorded with Getz until 1951; became a member of New York City's jazz scene and recorded as session musician for the Savoy label; made first solo recordings for the Blue Note label, 1952; led a group at Minton's Playhouse and recorded as a member of Art Blakey's Quintet, 1954; recorded solo release with Blakey and Jazz Messengers, 1954-55; subsequently recorded with the group under Blakey's leadership, 1954-56; pursued solo career, 1957; recorded a number of Blue Note albums, 1960s and 1970s; founded Sliveto Productions and recorded music related to holistic healing, 1981; toured with small groups, 1980s; recorded for various labels, 1990s.
Life's Work
Pianist and composer Horace Silver, a pre-eminent founder of what became known as hard bop or soul jazz, emerged in the 1950s as noted instrumentalist and bandleader. Steeped in blues and a student of a church organist, Silver drew upon many sources for his musical vision, including Latin sounds that imbued his music with an intoxicating rhythmic quality. His inventive writing for small group settings featuring a saxophone-trumpet front line became a model for jazzmen of the post bop era. During a period when most jazz recording dates became "blowing sessions" in which the participants played unrehearsed standards and "head arrangements," Silver maintained, within his small groups, a sense of unique compositional form, and his tightly rehearsed groups became known for their impeccable sense of swing, while retaining a soulfully powerful sound. Many of Silver's compositions such as "The Preacher," "Juicy Lucy," "Nica's Dream," "Sister Sadie," and "Filthy McNasty" have become modern jazz classics and continue to find their way into the repertoires of jazz artists around the world.
Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver was born on September 9, 1928 in Norwalk, Connecticut. Silver's father, John Tavares Silver, hailed from the Cape Verde Islands--a former Portuguese colony off the west coast of Africa--and worked at the Norwalk Tire Factory. A violinist and guitarist, he played music at family parties. Silver first studied the classical keyboard under the direction of a church organist. As a member of the Norwalk High School band, he played tenor saxophone under the influence of Lester Young. During his second year in high school, he took up the baritone saxophone, while pursuing his piano studies.
After graduating from high school, Silver continued playing piano, and primarily studied blues and boogie woogie players. His early training included memorizing Avery Parrish's classic blues solos on Erskine Hawkins's recording of "After Hours." Silver also studied the music of Charlie Parker and jazz pianists Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson. As he later recounted in Talking Jazz, "Teddy Wilson I copied a little of his stuff. I could copy stuff off the record. I couldn't catch all of it. ...I bought a couple of Teddy Wilson piano folios and tried to practice out them. ...Art Tatum piano folios were impossible for me to read. I couldn't get through them, there were so many thirty-second, sixty-forth notes, it looked like somebody took some ink and just threw it at the paper." Instead, Silver concentrated on studying the music of bebop piano genius Bud Powell. He soon discovered the works of one of Powell's mentors, Thelonious Monk, who, as Thomas Owens emphasized in Bebop The Music and Its Players, influenced "Silver's fast tremolos and dry pedal-free ballads, but also in the stiff-fingered percussive technique both men share--the oddest approach to the keyboard attack and fingering in jazz."
Developed Strong Musical Reputation
In 1950, while performing with Harold Holt in Hartford, Connecticut, Silver was discovered by saxophonist Stan Getz. Getz hired him for a group that toured extensively between 1950 and 1951. Within weeks of an August 1951 studio session, Silver left Getz's group in order to establish himself in New York City's flourishing jazz scene. By performing at Birdland, he was able to accompany many of the leading jazz talents of the day. In Song of the Hawk, Silver recalled playing Birdland with "Hawk [Coleman Hawkins] and bassist Curly Russell-- once with Roy Eldridge and Art Blakey, once with Howard McGhee and Art Taylor. It was a privilege and an honor. Like most great artists, Hawk showed not only genius but consistency." During the early 1950s, he performed with saxophonist Lester Young and bebop bassist Oscar Pettiford.
Silver's first sides as a leader for the Blue Note label, a company he would have a steady working relationship for the next 40 years, were a series of trio dates from 1952 and 1953. These recordings featured Art Blakey and the varied bass accompaniment of Gene Ramey, Curly Russell, and Percy Heath. These early efforts captured a number of Silver's original compositions such as "Quicksilver," "Safari," and "Opus De Funk." Around the same time he debuted on the Blue Note label, Silver took part in numerous sessions for the Savoy label. On these recordings, he performed with saxophonists Lou Donaldson and Al Cohn.
In 1954, Silver led a quartet at Minton's Playhouse with saxophonist Hank Mobley and bassist Doug Watkins. In February of 1954, he appeared as a member of the Art Blakey Quintet for the Blue Note album At Night At Birdland Vol. I and Vol. II. Under Blakey's leadership, Silver joined trumpeter Clifford Brown, Lou Donaldson, and bassist Curly Russell for a showcase of hard bop which included his three original compositions "Split Kick," "Quicksilver," and "Myreh." Nick Catalano, author of Clifford Brown: The Life and Art of the Legendary Jazz Trumpeter, emphasized that the Birdland album "has become a jazz classic for many reasons; the brilliant improvisations, the innovative Silver compositions, the quintessential hard bop musical statements, and the production standards by Rudy Van Gelder and Blue Note."
Founding Member of The Jazz Messengers
In 1954, Silver led a Blue Note recording band under the name The Jazz Messengers. The Jazz Messengers was a quintet that included his Minton's sidemen Mobely and Watkins along with Blakey and trumpeter Kenny Dorham. Although Blakey had led a big band called the Jazz Messengers in 1947, the formation of this smaller cooperative unit marked the official debut of a band that, under Blakey's subsequent leadership, would become a premiere showcase of young jazz talent. Cut in two sessions in December of 1954 and February of 1955, Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers featured six original Silver compositions including "The Preacher," a groundbreaking number of what became known as hard bop or soul jazz. An immensely popular number among jazz musicians, "The Preacher" was described by Ira Gitler in the album's liner notes as "an earthy swinger", and derived its melody from "Show Me the Way to Go Home."
Recorded With Miles Davis
During 1954, Silver also took part in Prestige recording dates led by Miles Davis. As Davis explained in his memoir, Miles, "I liked the way Horace played piano. ...He put fire under my playing." In March of 1954, Davis recorded with Silver, Blakey, and bassist Percy Heath. "Silver's presence on Davis' Blue Note date and also on his next three recording sessions during this prolific spring," commented Jack Chambers in Milestones, "gave him exactly the kind of exposure he needed. His immediate blossoming as a major talent further enhanced Davis' reputation as a jazz mentor." Several Davis-led sessions held in March and April of 1954 yielded material that was included on the albums Blue Haze and Walkin.'; Silver returned to the studio with Davis in late June of 1954, and appeared on the album Miles Davis and The Jazz Giants: Bag's Groove with tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, Percy Heath, and drummer Kenny Clarke.
Silver won the New Star piano category of Down Beat magazine's International Critic's Poll in 1954. Over the next two years, he found himself in great demand as a Blue Note session pianist. In 1955 he recorded with saxophonist Milt Jackson, Gigi Gryce, and Kenny Clarke, and also appeared with an eight-piece band (including the conga playing of Carlos "Potato" Valdes) on Dorham's Blue Note album Afro-Cuban. Under the leadership of Art Blakey, Silver, Dorham, and Watkins appeared together at a club date in November of 1955. The session was released as the live recordings, The Jazz Messengers at the Cafe Bohemia Vol. I and Vol. II. Silver's next two recording sessions with Art Blakey took place in April and May of 1956, and were released as the Columbia album Art Blakey, The Jazz Messengers. The album featured Dorham's trumpet replacement, Donald Byrd, in addition to Mobely and Watkins. "It is my opinion," stated drummer Kenny Washington in the liner notes to The Jazz Messengers, "that by the time these 1956 Columbia sides were released the Messengers had found a sound of their own. Credit must also be given to Horace Silver for this direction." In September of 1956, Silver provided the piano accompaniment for bassist Paul Chambers's Blue Note release, Whims of Chambers. The recording also included Donald Byrd, John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, and Philly Joe Jones.
In 1956, Silver left The Jazz Messengers to form his own group with Mobley and trumpeter Art Farmer. During the following year, he continued to record with artists like Sonny Rollins. Silver's late 1958 release Further Explorations-- which featured Farmer, saxophonist Clifford Jordan, bassist Teddy Kotick and drummer Louis Hayes--represented, according to David Rosenthal in Hard Bop, "the most successful crystallization of his style as a pianist, composer, and bandleader. ...At the time it was recorded, the quintet had been playing together for many months and had evolved into one of the best-integrated combos in jazz." Silver's 1959 Blue Note album, Blowin' The Blues Away, became a fiery showcase of original compositions featuring saxophonist Blue Mitchell, trumpeter Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor, and drummer Louis Hayes. From the album's break neck title track, "The Baghdad Blues" to the beautiful ballad "Peace" and the classic and often covered "Sister Sadie" the unit, whether in its quintet or trio setting, played some of the finest music of the hard bop era. "Apropos of all the talk about 'soul' and 'funk' lately," discussed Ira Gitler in the liner notes to Blowin' The Blues Away, "it is interesting to note that with Horace Silver, the one who has them in abundant amounts, they have always been natural qualities and never the result of self-conscious striving."
Though a premiere exponent of soul jazz, Silver's music did not limit itself to a blues and gospel influenced sound. As Thomas Owens asserted in Bebop: The Music and Its Players, "For every down-home 'funky' tune there is one or more that in no way fits the 'funky' stereotype." Silver's musical repertoire, noted Rosenthal in Hard Bop, contained "some of modern jazz's most poignant ballads. ...In addition, he was something of an innovator in his compositions, venturing into time signatures (like the 6/8 he used in his major hits, 'Senor Blues') and bar lengths (like the 16-6-16 structure of 'Swingin' Samaba') that broke with jazz's traditional Tin Pan Alley-derived-two-bar A-A-B-A formula." In The History of Jazz, Ted Gioia also explained that many of Silver's compositions reflected a "refreshing diversity" of 6/8 rhythms and "jazz waltzes" and "Caribbean-Latin Hybrids." The latter style found its way into Silver's music following a trip to Rio de Janeiro when he heard the authentic playing of bossa nova. Inspired by Brazilian music, he decided to incorporate the bossa nova sound as well as the folk music of his father's Cape Vardean heritage into his jazz compositions. In 1963, Silver debuted his Caribbean and Latin-tinged material on Blue Note's Song For My Father. The album became one of the company's best-selling recordings and stayed on the charts for many weeks. It was also named by Down Beat magazine readers as one of the top five jazz albums of the year. Cut in three sessions, the album captured two different quintets, one with trumpeter Carmell Jones, Joe Henderson, Teddy Smith, and Roger Humphries--and the other with Mitchell, Cook, Gene Taylor, and Roy Brooks. In May of 1963, Silver's Serenade was released. The album contained five original Sliver compositions, along with the Mitchell-Cook front line and the rhythm section of Taylor and Brooks.
In 1964, Silver recruited saxophonist Joe Henderson and, the following year, added trumpeter Woody Shaw to his band. In History of Jazz, Gioia stated "Horace Silver's mid-1960s combo might have challenged Blakey's supremacy in the hard-bop idiom, if it had only lasted longer. Its front line of saxophonist Joe Henderson and trumpeter Woody Shaw featured two of the most promising younger jazz talents of the day." The horns of Shaw and Henderson, augmented by guest trombonist J.J. Johnson, provided the accompaniment for Silver's Blue Note album, The Cape Verdean Blues. Recorded in the fall of 1965, the album showcased five original numbers and continued Silver's foray into Latin-Caribbean influences. "Listening to these sides," commented Leonard Feather in the album's liner notes, "one can understand easily why Horace Silver's success pattern has taken him forward uninterruptedly for almost ten years. The Horace Silver Quintet albums are predictable only to the extent that one can foretell their general character. Horace Silver is one composer who is never content to rest on past achievements." A mix of soul jazz and Latin sounds, Silver's 1966 Blue Note release, The Jody Grind, exhibited his artistic consistency as composer and bandleader. Apart from the bluesy title track, the album contains the original compositions "Mary Lou" and "Mexican Hip Dance."
Impacted Music Beyond Hard Bop Era
Because of its versatility and modern edge, Silver's music influenced musical trends outside mainstream jazz. John Storm Roberts, in his book Latin Jazz: The First of the Fusions, commented that during the 1970s "Silver's soul-Latin mix would give another shot in the arm to the movement toward a funk-Latin jazz fusion." During the 1980s, Silver's Latin-tinged music reached London discos, and influenced many of "the Young Lions" of the new acoustic jazz school. However, as Stuart Nicholson observed in Jazz: The 1980s Resurgence, "Silver. . .failed to capitalize on the bebop revival of the 1980s in the way several of his contemporaries did." In 1981, Silver formed Silveto Records. As he explained in Talking Jazz, the label was devoted to "self-help, holistic, metaphysical music" intended to integrate "a trilogy, consisting of spirit, mind and body." Among the best of his Silveto recordings was Music to Ease Your Disease. This album featured Silver's former saxophonist Junior Cook, trumpeter Clark Terry, bassist Billy Drummond, and drummer Billy Hart. Silver returned to his hard bop roots during the 1990s, and recorded the Columbia releases It's Got to Be Funky in 1993 and Pencil Packin' Papa in 1994. He also recorded The Hardbop Grandpop! in 1996 and Jazz Has a Sense of Humor in 1999 for the Impulse! label. His 1997 Silveto release, A Prescription For the Blues, featured the horns of Michael and Randy Brecker, bassist Ron Carter, and longtime sideman Louis Hayes. Silver's music was included on a Blue Note remix release in 1998, and appeared as part of the company's three CD compilation, The Blue Note Years.
A musician whose musical career spanned from hardbop to a modern sound drenched in a "funky" earthiness and Latin-Caribbean sound, Silver has created a formidable and influential style by distilling the kinetic energy of bebop into a music of emotional intensity and beauty. In his book Talking Jazz, Ben Sidran noted, "To this day jazz players 'quote' his [Silver's] writing and playing, and many of the young lions, those emerging in the popular press, try their best to imitate his compositional devices and to reinvent the Horace Silver sound."
Awards
Won the New Star piano category of Down Beat magazine's International Critic's Poll, 1954.
Works
Selected discography
- Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers, Blue Note, 1955.
- Six Pieces of Silver, Blue Note, 1956.
- Further Exlporations, Blue Note, 1958.
- Blowin' the Blues Away, Blue Note, 1959.
- Horace-Scope, Blue Note, 1960.
- Tokyo Blues, Blue Note, 1962.
- Silver's Serenade, Blue Note, 1963.
- Song For My Father, Blue Note, 1964.
- The Horace Sliver Quintet Plus J.J. Johnson, The Cape Veradean Blues, Blue Note, 1965.
- The Jody Grind, Blue Note, 1966.
- Serenade to a Soul Sister, Blue Note, 1968.
- Spiritualizing the Senses, Silveto, 1983.
- It's Got to Be Funky, Columbia, 1993.
- Hardbop Grandpop, Impusle!, 1996.
- Prescription For the Blues, Impulse!, 1997.
- Jazz Has a Sense of Humor, Impulse!, 1999.
- Horace Silver Retrospective, Blue Note, 1999.
- with Miles Davis
- Miles Davis, Blue Haze, Prestige, 1954.
- Miles, United Artists, 1954.
- Miles Davis Allstars, Prestige, 1954.
- Miles Davis and The Jazz Giants, Bags' Groove, Prestige, 1954.
- with others
- Stan Getz: Birdland Sessions, 1952.
- Al Cohn, Cohn's Tones, Savoy, 1953.
- Art Farmer, Art Farmer Septet, 1953.
- A Night at Birdland With the Art Blakey Quintet Vol. 1 and 2, Blue Note, 1954.
- The Jazz Messengers at the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1 and 2, Blue Note, 1955.
- Kenny Dorham, Afro-Cuban, Blues Note, 1955.
- Kenny Clarke, Bohemia After Dark, Savoy, 1955.
- Gigi Gryce, Nica's Tempo, Savoy, 1955.
- Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, Columbia, 1956.
- The Jazz Message of Hank Mobley, Savoy, 1956.
- Paul Chambers, Whims of Chambers, Blue Note, 1956.
- Sonny Rollins Vol. Two, Blue Note, 1957.
Further Reading
Books
- Catalano, Nick, Clifford Brown: The Life and Art of the Legendary Jazz Trumpeter, Oxford University Press, 2000.
- Chambers, Jack, with new introduction, Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles Davis, Da Capo, 1998.
- Chilton, John, The Song of the Hawk: The Life and Recordings of Coleman Hawkins, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1990.
- Davis, Miles with Qunicy Troupe, Miles, The Autobiography, Touchstone Books, 1990.
- Gioia, Ted. The History of Jazz, Oxford University Press, 1997.
- Maggin, Donald L., Stan Getz: A Life in Jazz, Quill, 1996.
- Owens, Thomas, Bebop, The Music and Its Players, Oxford University Press, 1993.
- Roberts, John Storm, Latin Jazz: The of the First Fusions 1880's to Today, Schirmer Books, 1999.
- Rosenthal, David H., Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music 1955-1965, Oxford University Press, 1992.
- Sidran, Ben, Talking Jazz: An Oral History, Da Capo, 1995.
- Additional information for this profile was obtained from the liner notes by Ira Gitler Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers and Blowin' the Blues Away; Kenny Washington, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers; and a telephone conversation with Horace Silver, Malibu, California, June 21, 2000.
— John Cohassey
