Tokyo Blues

Horace Silver | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 5, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B000005H75
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #134,612 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #78 in Music > Indie Music > Jazz > Bebop

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AWESOME JAZZ SALUTE TO JAPAN, September 3, 2005

By 

RBSProds "rbsprods" (Deep in the heart of Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tokyo Blues (Audio CD)

Five Stars are nice, but this one deserves Six Stars just to separate it from the rest of the field!! Highly recommended to all jazz fans. My favorite Horace Silver Quintet performance and it is probably resulted from a huge coincidence. Roy Brooks, the regular drummer, was not available and was temporarily replaced by John Harris, Jr and the results are stunning. Harris was a more perfect fit for these latin flavored songs with oriental heads, no disrespect to the awesome Mr Brooks. Engineer Rudy Van Gelder captured Harris' drums with a clarity that has the hi-hat cymbals sizzling with each fall. Ditto for the presense of tenor axe man Junior Cook who was spectacular throughout with a huge tone and excellent inventiveness. Amazing trumpeter Blue Mitchell and solid bassist Gene Harris complete this awesome quintet.

"Too Much Sake" is a surprise because, besides the title, it's hard-swinging latin-tinged jazz all the way. Notice how Cook lifts his solo to a new level in mid-flight, firing up the entire group. "Sayonara Blues" begins the real oriental journey and Horace gives it lots of compositional and solo room. "Toyko Blues" has a stunning Mitchell trumpet solo. But this is Horace's group and he solos with aplomb, funk, and angular inventiveness. The marvelous trio performance of "Cherry Blossom" is pure beauty from beginning to end, again with lots of breathing room. Horace shows off his unique approach to piano with a solo full of vaguely familiar quotes and fabulous phrases. "Ah, So" is pure joy with a complex head and lots of strong blowing by all concerned.

I consider this CD as the other bookend with Horace's spectacular "Silver's Serenade" with Joe Henderson on Tenor Sax. "Song For My Father" was great, but "Tokyo Blues" and "Silver's Serenade" are toppers. Six Stars for "Toyko Blues". An Essential CD.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Tokyo Blues, July 7, 2005

By 

T. G. Davis - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tokyo Blues (Audio CD)

This is one of several albums (60's & 70's) by Horace Silver that perfectly capture a creative genius at his peak. Tokyo Blues isn't as well known as Song for my Father or The Cape Verdean Blues albums -- but it's in the same smooth, exotic groove: elegant ensemble riffs, vibrant solos, deep moody trance energy, and wonderful piano work by Horace. Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Silver's Ode to Japan, April 24, 2009

By 

Michael B. Richman (Portland, Maine USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tokyo Blues (Audio CD)

Originally issued on CD in 1996, pianist Horace Silver's "The Tokyo Blues" makes a welcome return to the Blue Note catalog as an RVG title. Recorded in July 1962, six months after a successful and impressionable tour of Japan, this album is Silver's way of saying thank you for the generous hospitality he received while on the other side of the Pacific. Each of the disc's five tunes has a title that refers to an aspect of Japanese culture or tradition. But don't think Silver went so far as to incorporate Japanese music on this album, for this is classic hard bop from one of the masters of the genre. The band here is the famous Quintet of 1959-63 (Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Junior Cook on tenor sax, Gene Taylor on bass) with one exception -- John Harris Jr. replaces Roy Brooks on drums, who was ill at the time of this session. While "The Tokyo Blues" may not quite live up to "Song For My Father," it is as good as anything else this quintet cut, including "Silver's Serenade," "Finger Poppin" and "Blowin' The Blues Away."