Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers

Infobox Album
Name = Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers
Type = studio
Artist = Horace Silver


Released = 1955
Recorded = December 13 1954/February 6 1955
Genre = jazz, hard bop
Length = 43:30
Label = Blue Note
Producer = Alfred Lion
Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dcftxqugldfe~T1 link]
Last album = "Horace Silver Trio"
(1953)
This album = "Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers"
(1955)
Next album = "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". [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dcftxqugldfe~T1 Allmusic: Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers – Review] ]

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

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. [Silver, H.: Let's Get to the Nitty Gritty: The Autobiography of Horace Silver, University of California Press 2007, p. 79-80] 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". [Rosenthal, D. H.: Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music, 1955-1965, OUP 1992, p. 38]

Track listing

"Except where noted, all tracks composed by Horace Silver."

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

Personnel

Performance

* Art Blakey - drums
* Kenny Dorham - trumpet
* Hank Mobley - tenor saxophone
* Horace Silver - piano
* Doug Watkins - bass

Production

* Alfred Lion - producer
* Reid Miles - design
* Rudy Van Gelder - engineer
* Francis Wolff - photography

References