Tribute: Horace Silver (1928-2014)

Horace Silver: New Jersey, December 2, 1956

We mourn the loss of Horace Silver—composer, pianist, and father of hard bop—who passed at 85 today. Silver was a true giant of jazz.

Read NPR's tribute.

For an artist who released dozens of records as a bandleader (notably on Blue Note Records, 1955-1979), co-founded and led the Jazz Messengers with Art Blakey, while also recording with Miles Davis, Milt Jackson, Hank Mobley and many others, it's impossible to choose any one recording to embody his legacy. The playlist below is a start:

In 2010, the SFJAZZ Collective paid tribute to Horace Silver on their 7th Annual Concert Tour, performing new arrangements of classics like "Cape Verdean Blues," "Señor Blues," "Sister Sadie," "Peace" and a standard of standards, "Song For My Father." The tour was documented by Mezzo:

Jazz is not background music. You must concentrate upon it in order to get the most of it. You must absorb most of it. The harmonies within the music can relax, soothe, relax, and uplift the mind when you concentrate upon and absorb it. Jazz music stimulates the minds and uplifts the souls of those who play it as well as of those who listen to immerse themselves in it. As the mind is stimulated and the soul uplifted, this is eventually reflected in the body.

-- Horace Silver

Tribute concert this August to Horace Silver's Song For My Father with Matt Clark.