Customer Reviews

Horace Silver Trio

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This historically very important album was recorded on three different dates from 1952/1953. Art Blakey is on drums on all that occasions, so that's where the great, dynamic team between Silver and Blakey, the foundation of the "Jazz Messengers" had started. Even at this early stage of Silver's career, he was a great composer: "Opus de Funk" turned out to be very successful, even Woody Herman's band played it. "Safari" and above all "Quicksilver"(based on the changes of "Lover come back to me") are my favorites here. Horace is really superb on these tunes. Although he was influenced by Powell and Monk, he really had his own, personal style....fanstastic melody lines and really tricky left-hand stuff. Both of that mentioned tunes later were recorded as quintet-versions. Another interesting thing about theses early trio-sides are the ballad interpretations ("Prelude to a kiss" and "I remember you"): Hoarce Silver plays those lyrical tunes in a very pianistic manner, really pretty. Few years later, most of his ballads were originals with a more brooding mood.
The last two tracks "Message from Kenya" and "Nothing but Soul" are early examples of Blakey's percussion-dates, the first track also featuring Sabu Martinez, who later made a BlueNote Album of his own and collaborated with Blakey on "Orgy in Rhythm".

"Horace Silver Trio" is a taut, expertly-paced and plain fun CD for any music collection. But for jazz lovers, this set features two of the architects of "hard bop": Horace Silver and Art Blakey. My favorite tracks are the wonderful "Yeah" and exquisite "Knowledge Box." This set serves as a great introduction to Horace Silver, a true jazz legend. This is a great collection at a good price.

Also check out "Blowin' The Blues Away," "Six Pieces of Silver" and "Song For My Father."