Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers

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Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers
Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers cover
Studio album by Horace Silver
Released 1955
Recorded December 13, 1954/February 6, 1955
Genre jazz, hard bop
Length 43:30
Label Blue Note
Producer Alfred Lion
Professional reviews
Horace Silver chronology
Horace Silver Trio
(1953)		 Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers
(1955)		 Silver’s Blue
(1956)

Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers is a 1955 (see 1955 in music) album by jazz pianist Horace Silver and drummer Art Blakey. It was an important album in the establishment of the hard bop style, and was the first album released under the band name Jazz Messengers, which Blakey would use for the rest of his career. Scott Yanow on Allmusic describes it as "a true classic".[1]

Originally released on LP, the album has subsequently been reissued on CD.

Contents

[edit] Background

Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers was the second Blue Note album released under Silver’s name, and the first on which he used the quintet format which he would largely use for the rest of his career. The music on the album mixes bebop influences with blues and gospel feels. One of the most successful tunes from the album, "The Preacher", was almost rejected for recording by producer Alfred Lion, who thought it was "too old-timey", but reinstated at the insistence of Blakey and Silver, who threatened to cancel the session until he had written another tune to record in its place if it wasn’t included.[2] According to Silver, the track showed that the band could "reach way back and get that old time, gutbucket barroom feeling with just a taste of the back-beat".[3]

[edit] Track listing

Except where noted, all tracks composed by Horace Silver.

  1. "Room 808" – 5:22
  2. "Creepin’ In" – 7:26
  3. "Stop Time" – 4:07
  4. "To Whom It May Concern" – 5:11
  5. "Hippy" – 5:23
  6. "The Preacher" – 4:18
  7. "Hankerin’" (Hank Mobley) – 5:18
  8. "Doodlin’" – 6:45

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Performance

[edit] Production

[edit] References

  1. ^ Allmusic: Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers – Review
  2. ^ Silver, H.: Let's Get to the Nitty Gritty: The Autobiography of Horace Silver, University of California Press 2007, p. 79-80
  3. ^ Rosenthal, D. H.: Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music, 1955-1965, OUP 1992, p. 38