Horace Silver - Live at Newport '58

Silver's Live Performance Worth Listening To

Horace Silver's Live at Newport is an excellent recording from a top artist. Considering it's age and that it was recorded live, this is a very good quality recording. The band is excellent and the music never better. Very enjoyable for Horace Silver fans and jazz fans alike. Enjoy! March 19, 2008

A gem, an absolute genius work, a fine piece of Silver.

This recently discovered gem, is a fine work, by Horace Silver and his group. I particularly like Senor Blues, but the whole disc is great. Fine solos, well executed playing, and smooth stylings make this a worthy collector's item. I look forward to also listening to, according to KWMU's Dennis Owsley, in Missouri, another fine worth effort: Doin' The Thing, Live At The Village Vanguard. February 11, 2008

BRILLIANT NEWPORT '58 SET BY THE HARD-BOP MASTER & HIS QUINTET

Five COMPELLING Stars! This CD presents the brilliant jazz piano virtuoso, composer, and influential group leader Horace Silver in a rare live recorded performance with mostly well-known stalwart sidemen and a talented transitional trumpet player. LIve at the Newport Jazz Festival, no less! The tapes of this performance were found in the Columbia records archives, not Blue Note as we might have expected, as yet another jazz masterpiece surfaces: this one giving us a masterful example of Mr Silver's unique combination of primetime blues, funk, soul, gospel, and bop into hard bop. Thanks to producer Michael Cuscuna's detective work in finding this recording. Horace is joined by tenor sax wizard Junior Cook, the bedrock bass work of Gene Taylor, superb drummer Louis Hayes and fleet-fingered trumpeter Louis Smith, who shows signs of influence by Clifford Brown.

The best of the best begins with "Tippin'", a hard-driving swinger filled with hot funky solos and great unison section work. Silver's piano work is exemplary, pointing the way for groups forming during that period all the way to today. (For example, former sideman Tom Harrell's recent 2007 CD Light On has strong Horace Silver influences in places.) Horace's jabbing left hand in support of his own solos is one of the most influential in jazz piano, his 'comping' is a standard setter as well, and his 'quote'-ability is outstanding. The group's theme "Cool Eyes", from the studio recording Six Pieces of Silver which had Donald Byrd on trumpet, rounds out the set with some definitive bebop phrases on the bridge. The solo transition minor theme became a standard for Mr. Silver's groups. But the solos by Cook, Smith, and Horace himself are burning experiences. "The Outlaw", a complex composition with several distinct building blocks, including a latin rhythm transition and a full stop, brings out the most heartfelt solos of the recording based on some expressive chord changes and the driving of the rhythm section. "Senor Blues", probably Mr Silver's most famous composition, is the song that brought me into the jazz fan fold permanently. An emotional roller coaster with a bridge as memorable and even more intense as the main theme, the solos here are as good if not better than those on "Six Pieces of Silver". Great performances with Horace's driving piano and Louis Hayes drumming pushing things along. (Hit the 'repeat' button, please!)

This Newport appearance, even though the CD is only now arriving on the scene, was proof that Horace Silver was nearing the pinnacle of jazz fame and influence, composing impressive songs and unleashing a number of players over the years who would go on to greater fame after leaving his groups (and the Jazz Messengers which Art Blakey would inherit), such as Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan, Michael and Randy Brecker, Joe Henderson, and Tom Harrell among many others. This great performance is hard bop perfection and it gets my Highest Recommendation! Five HardBopping Stars!!!
(This review is based on an ITunes download of 45 minutes with digial booklet). February 10, 2008

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