Track Listing

1. Song For My Father
2. Natives Are Restless Tonight
3. Calcutta Cutie
4. Que Pasa
5. Kicker
6. Lonely Woman
7. Sanctimonious Sam
8. Sighin' And Cryin'
9. Silver Treads Among My Soul

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3238 in Music
• Released on: 1999-06-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .21 pounds
• Running time: 61 minutes

CD Description
Yet another jazz steal; this time, Steely Dan borrowed the title track for "Rikki Don't Lose That Number." Horace Silver should take heart, this is his most successful album and one that finds its way onto many recommended lists, not just for the jazz fraternity. Its strength is its accessibility, and in keeping with many piano leader albums Silver does notseek to dominate.

Customer Reviews

Brilliantly melodic, accessible hard bop - a 1960's classic
If you've never heard of Horace Silver, this is the place to start. One of the greatest jazz pianists of the last 40 or 50 years, Silver recorded many albums for Blue Note in their trademark hard bop style, with all their great performers including Art Blakey, Blue Mitchell, Carmell Jones,Hank Mobley etc. The eponymous title track is one of the catchiest and most memorable numbers ever recorded on the label and is on a par with Lee Morgan's Sidewinder for instant classic status, but the album is packed with wonderful music. Hard to beat at this price.

High quality jazz with enormous popular appeal...
Interesting... if one of the main reasons for the great space and vast praise garnered by the reviews for Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" is that it combines brilliant musicianship with tunes that are "accessible" by a much wider audience than pure jazz aficionados then why such little comparative interest in a record with similarly good credentials ?

While the playing on "Song For My Father" may not rank up there with Davis' & Coltrane's quite exceptional virtuosity on "Kind of Blue", Joe Henderson's sax, Carmell Jones' trumpet and Horace Silver's piano breaks push the album into the same rarefied and rare league: high quality jazz with enormous popular appeal. The trick ?... catchy lead riffs and backing rhythms that drive the songs forward while allowing often highly complex instrumental breaks to emerge effortlessly from, and back into, strong underlying melodies. The result?... a suite of songs that will grab space on your CD player over and over again and, in "Song For My Father" itself one of the most unforgettable jazz tracks ever made.

Funkiest hard-bop album ever
Quintessential hard bop from the founding father of funk: an absolutely kicking album. Hugely influential, irresistibly swinging deep groove. Joe Henderson's saxophone is driven by waves of emotion and Silver's crisp composition and rhythmic left hand is at its most compelling. This is easily one of my favourite albums. I'm capable of playing it over and over again - the title tune is simply thrilling. The whole band exudes ebullience and optimism.

But the album is far more than mere entertainment: Silver's own trio piece, the closing "Lonely Woman" (not to be confused with the eponymous 1959 piece by Ornette Coleman, or the 1937 one by Benny Carter) is exceptional for its introspective lyricism. Silver's father was from Maio, Cape Verde, and his Portuguese origin (presumably Silva) explains the sub-title of the album: Cantiga para meu pai. No father could hope for a more heartfelt dedication.