Customer Reviews

Let's Get to the Nitty Gritty: The Autobiography of Horace Silver

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4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The LAST thing this book does is get to the nitty-gritty. Primarily a string of recollections and anecdotes, this light-as-a-feather book hardly constitutes a proper biography for such an important (and still breathing) figure in the pantheon of jazz.

Pastras' research seems to have consisted of going over to Horace's house every Sunday for bull sessions. And that's how the book reads. There are the expected misspellings and typos (Wilt Chamberlin, Carl Burnette, et al) and multiple repetitions of events.

The ARE some interesting tidbits buried here as Horace can be quite the raconteur. His story about Dizzy Gillespie's visit to his apartment is touching and his story about being unable to sit in for Otis Spann because he couldn't play the blues in Muddy's key signature was both amusing and alarming. Horace not able to play the blues??? His multiple brushes with racism, drug enforcement and police power are chilling.

But mostly the book is a name-dropper's paradise, recounting all of the famous and semi-famous celebrities our boy has met over the past 50 years. He sure has a steel-trap memory! But why he would exhibit such excitement about a chance sighting of a has-been former actress walking her dog in Central Park and then need to recount it in his autobiography 40 years later is beyond me.

The curious reader will search in vain for clues to his musical talent (other than tea kettle whistles and the like). Very few of his compositions are even mentioned much less subjected to some sort of analysis. Other than Tyrone Washington, for whom he saves some choice invective, very few of his colleagues are discussed in detail, including incredibly Art Blakey. This relationship should have occupied a full chapter. What about Joe Henderson? Woody Shaw? Bob Berg?

The reader is left with a picture of a lonely and fearful man, evidently estranged from his family. (He sees his only son "once or twice a year"!!!) He's uneducated but yearns for deeper understanding. A fine jazz craftsman, Silver contends with eruptions of artism that apparently mystify and ultimately confound him.

Horace Silver's book reads like a Horace Silver piano solo sounds. This is a down to earth statement about the life and times of a "Jazz Messenger" and survivor of one of the most creative and undocumented eras of Black Music. Horace gives us first hand accounts of what it was like to perform with Sonny Stitt, Art Blakey, Stan Getz, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Big Nick, Lockjaw Davis, Kenny Clarke and many others. His anecdotes, like his quoting of different tunes during his piano solos, are often humorous and relevant to his central theme, the joys and hardships of life and music. I loved the book from beginning to end. I recommend it along with "RACE MUSIC", by GUthrie P. Ramsey, JR, and "Miles the Autobiography" by Quincy Troupe to all who are interested in the history of African American music and history in the post WWII era.

I was really looking forward to starting this book. I have quite a few of Horace's albums and really like them and was looking forward to reading about his long career.

Disappointingly, I have to agree with one of the other reviewers that there is a lot of listing of personnel in bands for no other reason than listing them. Very rarely do we get any kind of critique or analysis of any aspect of his life. It reads as if Phil Pastras simply transcribed audio tapes of Horace recounting anecdotes and did no more than ensure that the anecdotes were in chronological order. After the first 100 pages I found it to be very repetitive/formulaic - a brief description of a gig/album session, listing of the personnel, Horace is grateful for the life he has.

No offence to Horace, but if I have to read one more time about how he 'married Lady Music' and how music is his life...

A squandered opportunity, this was a chance to pass something of real substance on to the younger generations from someone who truly forged a unique path/sound in a crowded artform.

I was thinking about getting his book on small combo playing but, based on this, I am worried that I'll regret buying it. I think I'll wait for the moment.

Sorry Horace.

After seeing Horace perform live many years ago, and listening to his early recordings, I looked forward to reading his insights, and maybe gaining a clue into what made his music magical. I found no insight, but came to realize that to become any better at my own piano playing I would just have to continue practicing. maybe that was all I should have expected to discern from reading this ever so short story.

I have been a fan of Horace Silver for many years and I am grateful that he took the time and effort to share the story of his life with us.

The tone of the book is personal. It is not a jazz history or an analysis of his compositions. It's like he is as happy to have you read it as you are in reading it.

I learned much about the man. His appreciation for his friends and for his own life is inspirational. That he has had a very long career as a jazz musician and manged to stay away from drugs when so many of his associates were complete addicts is a point to be admired. The scope of his work is beyond what I had imagined.

If you are a fan of Horace and his music you will enjoy reading his viewpoint of his own life.

Horace Silver is one of the few surviving masters from the golden years of jazz. He tells us about growing up in Connecticut, coming to NYC in the early 1950's when it seemed that there were jazz clubs everywhere. He provides the reader with valuable insights into his piano playing and composing talent. His first big time experience was with Stan Getz. Then with Coleman Hawkins, Lou Donaldson and on to Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers. He played with Lester Young and Miles Davis. Then he started with his famous quintets which featured Kenny Dorham,Hank Mobley, Doug Watkins and later on Donald Byrd,Art Farmer,Clifford Jordan,Louis Smith,Junior Cook,Blue Mitchell, Carmell Jones and Joe Henderson. I very much enjoyed his perspective on the illustrious past and the many stories related in this book. Well worthwhile read for any jazz enthusiast. An excellent discography is included.

I don't think I can say much about Horace that hasn't already been said other than he is my primary musical influence. I love his compositions and I love his approach to the piano. I consider him as a "father of funk" as well as hard bop. I was so happy that someone got a chance to speak with Horace in depth before he leaves us. I already deeply regret that I will most likely never get a chance to see him perform live. I highly recommend his autobiography to any true fan.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why a few would people expect someone like Horace Silver to tell his own personal history and views about his life in THEIR terms instead of his own, in which he did. I mean come on, we want to hear what Horace went through and what life was like through HIS eyes, not YOURS. How arrogant and insulting for someone to insinuate that Horace's life story wasn't dramatic enough, or gut-wrenching, as if it needs to be some kind of stupid movie. Why do people have to be so negative and an arm-chair critic about EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY these days? For goodness sake, just read the words coming from Horace in this book for what they are, what they meant to him, and appreciate the man's contributions to music. If you want judge how someone expresses their personal viewpoint of life, write your own autobiography, but please, spare us your judgmental impressions of Horace Silver's life in his own words.

Sorry, I have to blast this book. It drags. The man just lists the names of famous folks and his stories sag. There is no drama, no insight, nothing new. If you are looking for something that will enrich his music or give you an insiders view of the jazz scene, this book will not satisfy. I doubt I will ever finish it.