Customer Reviews

Cape Verdean Blues

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Unlike most of the recent batch of RVG releases (3/9 & 3/23/04), Horace Silver's classic "The Cape Verdean Blues" has been readily available for years, but this remastered reissue is a welcome addition to the Blue Note catalog nonetheless. While I have enjoyed all of Silver's Blue Note albums over the years (please consult my reviews for "Six Pieces of Silver," "Further Explorations," "Tokyo Blues," and "Horace Scope"), I have always held a special place in my heart for his two collaborations with Joe Henderson -- "Song for my Father" and "The Cape Verdean Blues." After years of very successful collaborations with the Blue Mitchell/Junior Cook quintet, Silver needed an influx of new blood to take his band from hard bop to the newer experiments of modal jazz. Henderson, who had already made a string of highly successful albums for Blue Note on his own, was more than up to the task. (Of further note, Henderson did not record his own Blue Note album as a leader in 1965, so these October 1 & 22 sessions, along with Pete LaRoca's "Basra," comprise Henderson's 1965 output for the label.) What makes this album even more special is trombonist J.J. Johnson's return to Blue Note (after nearly ten years) on the album's last three tracks, turning the solid quintet of Silver, Henderson, trumpeter Woody Shaw, bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Roger Humphries, into a formidable sextet. In all, "The Cape Verdean Blues" are a most welcome case of the blues.

Take note of the previous two reviews!

Both 5 stars. So is my rating. 5 big stars.

From start to finish this is an exceptionally smooth album. It just rolls along transporting you to a very upbeat and cool place. The beautiful rhythm of Horace's piano, the dexterity and speed of Joe Henderson's tenor and the brilliance of Woody Shaw's trumpet are captivating. I normally find the trombone overbearing and out of place but JJ Johnson is absolutely wonderful on this fabulous album.

Much as I enjoy the Horace's better known albums, this is my favourite.

You will not regret buying this album.

To my ears there is such a purity to this recording. Sure, the solos, overall musicianship, and song craft are exceptional, but that this not the thing. This album transcends. It is spiritual and loving and dare I say, in some abstract way very "black" (and by that I mean full of universality and depth of experience). Somehow through the Latin-tinged, blues-infused, deep-swinging celebration, one gets the sense that it's all going to be okay. Celebrate universal love and enjoy! A few years later Horace was singing this kind of thing, but he didn't really need to...it was always "within" the music.

J.J. Johnson adds fantastic depth; not a bad song on the disk; never gets old; easy to get blissfully lost in abstract thought whilst listening; his best recording.

I started listening to Silver after hearing his "Best of" compilation off of Blue Note. Tunes like "Sister Sadie" and his work with the Jazz Messengers(I think he penned "Blues March" with them) really caught my ear. He was so bluesy for a jazz pianist!! And his sound; it's got such a gospel vibe to it. Sometimes when I listen to his solos, I can just visualize a country gospel church somewhere in the South with a preacher leading a choir with the congregation jumping!

"Blowin' the Blues Away", another RVG reissue, is a great album, but "Cape Verdean Blues" is just as good. Except for the title track, "Cape Verdean Blues" isn't all latin tinged. Silver writes in the liner notes that Cape Verdean are islands off the coast of Portugal, where his father was from. So there is that world folk element in the title track, but the most of the album is straight Blue Note '60s hardbop. The track "African Queen" is bluesy, but you can hear African folk music in the drum work and the bass line. Probably my favorite on the whole album.

With the horn line-up on this album, you can't go wrong. J.J. Johnson, trumpeter Woody Shaw, and Joe Henderson were jazz titans and still are. They create some rich melodies and great harmonies together over Silver's playing.

Check this album out if you like the Blue Note sound from the mid-'60s

When most people refer to Horace Silver's best quintet, they usually mean the one with Blue Mitchell & Junior Cook but disregard his later groups such as this one featuring the talents of 2 forward looking musicians, Joe Henderson and Woody Shaw. Due to this personnel, the tunes here tend to be more in the modal vein but the Silver style/standard is still maintained. Two of the tunes here became a staple in the Buddy Rich band, "Nutsville" and the title tune. An added plus is the addition of former teammate, JJ Johnson, who employed Horace on some of his early Blue Note dates. The remastering is excellent and if you're a Silver fanatic, you won't be disappointed by this under-rated album at all!!

having Joe Henderson and Woody Shaw aboard really injected new life into Horace's music and compositions... and Roger Humphries is one amazing drummer!!

this is very highly recommended along with, of course, "Song For My Father"... and to a lesser extent, "The Jody Grind"...

another classic 60's Blue Note recording from Horace Silver!! try it, you'll like it :)

Horace Silver gathered some great players to make a great record. There's Joe Henderson on tenor, a young Woody Shaw on trumpet, and J. J. Johnson plays trombone on the second half of the CD. J. J. Johnson was unfortunately underutilized by the jazz leaders of his day, and it's always a treat to hear him. The songs are catchy, especially the title track, and the playing is excellent. The song structures are all very standard theme-solo-theme arrangements, but that's something Horace did throughout the 60's. I recommend this CD to all jazz fans. This one isn't as good as "Song Of My Father", but it's better than the rest of the Horace Silver CD's that I've heard.