Sir Herbert Richmond
Born	15 September 1871 Beavor Lodge, Hammersmith
Died	15 December 1946 Cambridge, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1885 - 1931
Rank	Admiral
Commands held	East Indies Station
Battles/wars	World War I
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath

Admiral Sir Herbert William Richmond KCB (15 September 1871 – 15 December 1946) was a prominent naval officer, who also served as Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at Cambridge University and Master of Downing College, Cambridge. He was married to Florence Elsa, daughter of Sir Thomas Hugh Bell and half sister of Gertrude Bell.^[1]

Early life and naval career[link]

The grandson of the portrait painter George Richmond and son of another artist, Sir William Blake Richmond the Slade Professor at Oxford University, Herbert Richmond joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1885. He served on the Australian Station and in the Hydrographic Service before qualifying as a torpedo officer in 1897. He began to develop a serious interest in naval history while serving in HMS Empress of India in 1897-98, HMS Ramillies in 1899, and HMS Canopus in 1899-1900.

In 1900-1903, Richmond served in the flagship of the Channel Fleet HMS Majestic. Promoted to commander in 1903, he became first officer in HMS Crescent, flagship of the Cape of Good Hope Station. He was assigned to the Admiralty in 1906-08, where he served briefly as naval assistant to Admiral John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher. Inspired by the work of the naval historian Julian Corbett, Richmond began to research the naval aspects of the War of the Austrian Succession, which he completed in 1914, but which was not published until 1920.

Promoted to captain, Richmond commanded HMS Dreadnought from 1909 to 1911, then, in 1911-12, the Torpedo School training ships HMS Furious and HMS Vindictive.^[2] In 1912, he founded the Naval Review (magazine), in order to promote innovative thought within the Royal Navy. Richmond became assistant director of operations on the Naval Staff from 1913 to 1915 and liaison officer to the Italian Fleet in 1915.^[2] From those assignments, he went on to command HMS Commonwealth (part of a pre-dreadnought battle squadron at the Nore) from 1916 to 1917, and HMS Conqueror in the Grand Fleet (1917–18), served as director of staff duties and training in 1918, and commanded HMS Erin in 1919.^[2]

Career as a flag officer and academic[link]

Promoted to Rear-Admiral, he became admiral president of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich in 1920.^[2] In October 1923, he was assigned as commander-in-chief, East Indies Squadron.^[2] Promoted to Vice-Admiral in 1925, he was created knight commander of the Order of the Bath in 1926. Returning to London in 1927, he became Commandant of the Imperial Defence College.^[2] In 1929, he was promoted to Admiral and served as president of the International Conference on the Safety of Life at Sea. Following his retirement from the Royal Navy in 1931,^[2] Cambridge University appointed him Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History, an academic chair he held from 1934 to 1936.^[2] In 1934, he was also elected master of Downing College, Cambridge, a post he held until his death in 1946. While Master of Downing College, he delivered the Ford Lectures in English History at Oxford University in 1943 (for the academic year 1943/4.)

References[link]

• James Goldrick and John Hattendorf, eds., Mahan is Not Enough: The Proceedings of a Conference on the Works of Sir Julian Corbett and Admiral Sir Herbert Richmond (1993)
• Barry Hunt, Sailor Scholar: Admiral Sir Herbert Richmond, 1871-1946 (1982)
• Arthur Marder, Portrait of an Admiral: The Life and Papers of Admiral Sir Herbert Richmond (1952)
• D. M. Schurman, The Education of a Navy: The Development of British Naval Strategic Thought, 1867-1914 (1965)

Published writings[link]

• Papers relating to the loss of Minorca in 1756 Navy Records Society (1913)
• The navy in the war of 1739-48 (1920)
• Command and discipline (1927)
• National policy and naval strength and other essays by H.W. Richmond; with a foreword by Lord Sydenham of Combe, (1928, 1934, 1993)
• The navy in India, 1763-1783 (1931)
• Economy and naval security : a plea for the examination of the problem of the reduction in the cost of naval armaments on the lines of strategy and policy (1931)
• Imperial defence and capture at sea in war (1932)
• Naval history and the citizen, by Admiral Sir Herbert Richmond ... an inaugural lecture delivered before the University on 25 April 1934 (1934)
• Private papers of George, Second Earl Spencer, first lord of the Admiralty, 1794-1801 Navy Records Society
• Sea power in the modern world (1934)
• Statesmen and sea power The Ford Lectures (1946)
• The Navy as an instrument of policy, 1558-1727 Edited by E.A. Hughes. (1953)

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2010)

Les McCann (born September 23, 1935, Lexington, Kentucky) is an American soul jazz piano player and vocalist whose biggest successes came as a crossover artist into R&B and soul.

Biography[link]

Les McCann's main career began in the early 1960s when he recorded with his trio for Pacific Jazz Records.^[1]

In 1969, Atlantic Records released Swiss Movement, a recording of McCann with regular collaborator and saxophonist Eddie Harris and guest trumpeter Benny Bailey at that year's Montreux Jazz Festival.^[2] The album contained the song "Compared To What," and both the album and the single were huge Billboard pop chart successes. "Compared To What" featured political criticism of the Vietnam War. The song was not actually written by McCann; fellow Atlantic composer/artist Eugene McDaniels (A Hundred Pounds of Clay) wrote it years earlier. "Compared To What" was initially recorded and released by soul vocalist Roberta Flack. Her version appeared as the opening track on her debut recording, First Take (1969).

After the success of Swiss Movement, McCann — primarily a piano player — began to emphasize his rough-hewn vocals more. He became an innovator in the soul jazz style, merging jazz with funk, soul and world rhythms; much of his early 1970s music prefigures the great Stevie Wonder albums of the decade. He was among the first jazz musicians to include electric piano, clavinet, and synthesizer in his music.

In 1971, he and Harris were part of a group of soul, R&B, and rock performers — including Wilson Pickett, The Staple Singers, Santana and Ike & Tina Turner — who flew to Accra, Ghana for a historic 14-hour concert before more than 100,000 Ghanaians. The March 6 concert was recorded for the documentary film Soul To Soul. In 2004 the movie was released on DVD with an accompanying soundtrack album.

Les McCann discovered Roberta Flack and obtained an audition which resulted in a recording contract with Atlantic Records.

A stroke in the mid 1990s sidelined McCann for a while,^[1] but in 2002 he released a new album, Pump it Up.

Discography[link]

• Plays The Truth, 1960, Pacific Jazz
• The Shout, 1960, Pacific Jazz
• Groove 1961, Pacific Jazz, with Richard "Groove" Holmes and Ben Webster
• In San Francisco 1961, Pacific Jazz
• Les McCann in New York, 1961, Pacific Jazz
• Stormy Monday, 1962, Capitol, with Lou Rawls
• Somethin' Special, 1962, Pacific Jazz, with Richard "Groove" Holmes
• In New York, 1962, Pacific Jazz, with Stanley Turrentine
• On Time, 1962, Pacific Jazz
• The Gospel Truth, 1963, Pacific Jazz
• Soul Hits, 1963, Pacific Jazz
• Plays The Shampoo At The Village Gate, 1963, Pacific Jazz
• Jazz Waltz, 1964, Pacific Jazz, with the Jazz Crusaders
• New From The Big City, 1964, Pacific Jazz
• Spanish Onions, 1964, Pacific Jazz
• McCanna, 1964, Pacific Jazz
• McCann/Wilson, 1965, Pacific Jazz, with the Gerald Wilson Orchestra
• But Not Really, 1965, Limelight Records
• Plays The Hits, 1967, Limelight
• Django, 1968, Sunset Records (a product of Liberty Records)
• Live At Shelly's Manne Hole, Limelight
• Beaux J. Pooboo, Limelight
• Bucket O' Grease, Limelight
• Live At The Bohemian Caverns, Washington, DC, Limelight
• Poo Boo, Limelight
• Much Les, 1969, Atlantic
• Swiss Movement, 1969, Atlantic, with Eddie Harris
• Comment, 1970, Atlantic
• Second Movement, 1971, Atlantic, with Eddie Harris
• Invitation to Openness, 1972, Atlantic
• Talk to the People, 1972, Atlantic
• Fish This Week, 1973, Blue Note/United Artists
• Layers, 1973, Atlantic
• Live at Montreux, 1973, Atlantic
• Another Beginning, 1974, Atlantic
• Hustle to Survive, 1975, Atlantic
• River High, River Low,1976, Atlantic
• Change Change Change; Live at the Roxy, 1977, ABC
• Music lets Me Be" 1977, ABC Impulse
• The Man, 1978, A&M
• Tall, Dark & Handsome, 1979, A&M
• The Longer You Wait, 1983, JAM
• McCann's Music Box, 1984, JAM
• The Butterfly, 1988, Stone
• More Of Les, 1989
• Relationships: The Les McCann Anthology, 1993, Rhino/Atlantic
• On The Soul Side, 1994, MusicMasters
• Piano Jazz, 1996, NPR Piano Jazz Series, featuring Marian McPartland
• Listen Up!!, 1996, Music Masters
• Pacifique, 1998, Music Masters, with Joja Wendt
• How's your mother?, 1998, 32JAZZ
• Pump it up, 2002, France
• Jazz Legend Project, 2004, Megaphon

Appeared on[link]

• Doldinger Jubilee `75, 1975, Atlantic

Samples[link]

• "Compared to What" was featured in "Lockdown", the season two episode of Lost.
• The live version of "Compared to What" was featured in the Martin Scorsese film Casino, during the scene where the organizational hierarchy of the casino is being explained.
• "Compared to What", has been a featured song in the 2007 tour of American Idol Season 5 winner Taylor Hicks.
• McCann's song "Valllarta(Skit)" was sampled by the late rapper The Notorious B.I.G. in the song "The Ten Crack Commandments) off his album Life After Death.
• The song "Roberta" was sampled on Afu-Ra's "Whirlwind Thru Cities".
• The beginning of "Sometimes I Cry" was sampled by Massive Attack to create their song "Teardrop".
• "Behind Bars" by Slick Rick also samples "Sometimes I Cry".
• "The song "Music lets me be" was used in the intro of Gang starr's "You know my steez"
• The beginning of the song "The Harlem Buck Dance Strut" is used in the Daddylonglegs (Howie B) song "Giddy up"
• McCann's song "Benjamin" (1969) was sampled by French rap band IAM (band) in the song "C'est donc ça nos vies"

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b} Yanow, Scott. "Les McCann: Biography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/les-mccann-p7081/biography. Retrieved 2010-10-17. 
2. ^ Olewnick, Brian. "Swiss Movement: Review". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/swiss-movement-r143666/review. Retrieved 2010-10-17. 

External links[link]

• http://www.lesmccann-officialwebsite.com/biography.html
• http://www.cyberstars.com/jazz/les-mccann/
• http://www.lesmccann-officialwebsite.com/disco.html

Eddie Harris (October 20, 1934 – November 5, 1996)^[1] was an American jazz musician, best known for playing tenor saxophone and for introducing the electrically amplified saxophone. He was also fluent on the electric piano and organ. His best-known compositions are "Freedom Jazz Dance", recorded and popularized by Miles Davis in the 1960s ^[1] and "Listen Here".

Biography[link]

Harris was born and grew up in Chicago. His father was originally from Cuba, and his mother from New Orleans. Like other successful Chicago musicians, such as Nat King Cole, Dinah Washington, Clifford Jordan, Johnny Griffin, Gene Ammons, Julian Priester, and Bo Diddley (among others), young Eddie Harris studied music under Walter Dyett at DuSable High School. He later studied music at Roosevelt University, by which time he was proficient on piano, vibraphone, and tenor saxophone. While in college, he performed professionally with Gene Ammons.

After college, he was drafted into the United States Army and while serving in Europe, he was accepted into the 7th Army Band, which also included Don Ellis, Leo Wright, and Cedar Walton.

Leaving military service, he worked in New York City before returning to Chicago where he signed a contract with Vee Jay Records. His first album for Vee Jay, Exodus to Jazz included his own jazz arrangement of Ernest Gold's theme from the movie Exodus. A shortened version of this track, which featured his masterful playing in the upper register of the tenor saxophone, was heavily played on radio and became the first jazz record ever to be certified gold.^[2]

The single climbed into the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and reached #16 in the U.S. R&B chart. Some jazz critics,^[who?] however, regarded commercial success as a sign that a jazz artist had sold out and Harris soon stopped playing "Exodus" in concert. He moved to Columbia Records in 1964 and then to Atlantic Records the following year where he re-established himself. In 1965, Atlantic released The In Sound, a bop album which won back many of his detractors.

Over the next few years, he began to perform on electric piano and the electric Varitone saxophone,^[1] and to perform a mixture of jazz and funk which sold well in both the jazz and rhythm and blues markets. In 1967, his album The Electrifying Eddie Harris reached second place on the R&B charts. The album's lead track, "Listen Here" was issued as a single, climbing to #11 R&B and #45 on the Hot 100. Harris released several different versions of his composition over the years, including both studio and live concert recordings.

In 1969, he performed with Les McCann at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Although the musicians had been unable to rehearse, their session was so impressive that a recording of it was released by Atlantic as Swiss Movement. This became one of the best-selling jazz albums ever, also reaching second place on the R&B charts.^[3]

Harris also came up with the idea of the reed trumpet, playing one for the first time at The Newport Jazz Festival of 1970 to mostly negative critical feedback. From 1970 to 1975, he experimented with new instruments of his own invention (the reed trumpet was a trumpet with a saxophone mouthpiece, the saxobone was a saxophone with a trombone mouthpiece, and the guitorgan was a combination of guitar and organ), with singing the blues, with jazz-rock (he recorded an album with Steve Winwood, Jeff Beck, Albert Lee, Ric Grech, Zoot Money, Ian Paice and other rockers). He also started singing and to perform comic R&B numbers like "That is Why You're Overweight" and "Eddie Who?".

In 1975, however, he alienated much of his audience with his album The Reason Why I'm Talking S--t, which consisted mainly of stand-up comedy. Interest in subsequent albums declined. He was a member of Horace Silver's Quintet in the early 1980s, and continued to record regularly well into the 1990s, sometimes in Europe where he enjoyed a loyal following, but his experimentation ended and he mainly recorded hard bop. He had moved from Chicago to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, and was responsible for much of the music on the hit TV series, The Bill Cosby Show.

Harris died in hospital in Los Angeles from bone cancer and kidney disease, at the age of 62.^[4]

References in pop culture[link]

Harris was name-checked in the Beastie Boys song "So What'cha Want," with the lyrics stating: "Plug me in just like I was Eddie Harris."

Discography[link]

Albums

• 1961: Exodus to Jazz (Vee-Jay)
• 1961: Mighty Like a Rose (Vee-Jay)
• 1961: Jazz for "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (Vee-Jay)
• 1962: A Study in Jazz (Vee-Jay)
• 1962: Eddie Harris Goes to the Movies (Vee-Jay)
• 1963: Bossa Nova (Vee-Jay)
• 1963: Half and Half (Vee-Jay)
• 1964: For Bird and Bags (Exodus) - also released as Sculpture (Buddah)
• 1964: Cool Sax, Warm Heart (Columbia)
• 1964: Here Comes the Judge (Columbia)
• 1965: Cool Sax from Hollywood to Broadway (Columbia)
• 1965: The In Sound (Atlantic)
• 1966: Mean Greens (Atlantic)
• 1967: The Tender Storm (Atlantic)
• 1968: The Electrifying Eddie Harris (Atlantic)
• 1968: Plug Me In (Atlantic)
• 1968: Pourquoi L'Amérique - soundtrack (AZ)
• 1968: Silver Cycles (Atlantic)
• 1969: High Voltage (Atlantic)
• 1969: Swiss Movement (Atlantic) - with Les McCann
• 1969: Free Speech (Atlantic)
• 1970: Come on Down! (Atlantic)
• 1970: Live at Newport (Atlantic)
• 1970: Smokin' 1970 Janus Records
• 1971: Second Movement (Atlantic) - with Les McCann
• 1972: Love...From A Horn 1972 Harmony
• 1971: Instant Death (Atlantic)
• 1972: Eddie Harris Sings the Blues (Atlantic)
• 1966-73: Excursions (Atlantic)
• 1974: E.H. in the U.K. (Atlantic)
• 1974: Is It In (Atlantic)
• 1974: I Need Some Money (Atlantic)
• 1975: Bad Luck Is All I Have (Atlantic)
• 1975: That Is Why You're Overweight (Atlantic)
• 1975: The Reason Why I'm Talking S--t 1976 (Atlantic)
• 1976: How Can You Live Like That? (Atlantic)
• 1978: I'm Tired of Driving RCA
• 1979: Playin' With Myself RCA
• Sounds Incredible 1981 AFE Records
• The Versatile Eddie Harris 1981 (Recorded 1976) (Atlantic)
• The Real Electrifying Eddie Harris 1982 Ubiquity Records
• Eddie Who? 1986 Timeless Records
• People Get Funny 1987 Timeless Records
• Live in Berlin 1989 Timeless Records
• Live at the Moonwalker 1990 Moonwalker Label (Suisa)
• A Tale of Two Cities 1991 Virgin Japan
• There Was a Time - Echo of Harlem 1991 Enja
• For You For Me For Everyone 1992 Steeplechase
• Yeah You Right 1993 Lakeside
• Listen Here 1993 Enja
• Vexatious Progressions 1994 Flying Heart Records
• The Battle of the Tenors 1994 with Wendell Harrison
• 1995: Dancing by a Rainbow (Enja)
• All The Way-Live (Recorded 1981) 1996 Milestone Records with Jimmy Smith
• The Last Concert CD 1997; with WDR Big Band

Compilations

• The Best of Eddie Harris 1970 (Atlantic)
• Black Sax 1975 GNP Crescendo Records
• Exodus: The Best of the Vee-Jay Years 2005 Charly Records

References[link]

External links[link]

• Allmusic
• MusicWeb Encyclopaedia of Popular Music
• Eddie Harris Official Web Site
• Eddie Harris Illustrated Discography

Eugene "Jug" Ammons (April 14, 1925 – July 23, 1974)^[1] also known as "The Boss," was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons.^[1][2]

Biography[link]

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Ammons studied music with instructor Walter Dyett at DuSable High School.^[3] Ammons began to gain recognition while still at high school when in 1943, at the age of 18, he went on the road with trumpeter King Kolax band. In 1944 he joined the band of Billy Eckstine (who bestowed on him the nickname "Jug" when straw hats ordered for the band did not fit), playing alongside Charlie Parker and later Dexter Gordon. Notable performances from this period include "Blowin' the Blues Away," featuring a saxophone duel between Ammons and Gordon. After 1947, when Eckstine became a solo performer, Ammons then led a group, including Miles Davis and Sonny Stitt, that performed at Chicago's Jumptown Club. In 1949 Ammons replaced Stan Getz as a member of Woody Herman's Second Herd,^[1] and then in 1950 formed a duet with Sonny Stitt.

The 1950s were a prolific period for Ammons and produced some acclaimed recordings such as "The Happy Blues" (1955), featuring Freddie Redd and Lou Donaldson. Musicians who played in his groups, apart from Stitt, included Donald Byrd, Jackie McLean, John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, Mal Waldron, Art Farmer, and Duke Jordan.

His later career was interrupted by two prison sentences for narcotics possession, the first from 1958 to 1960, the second from 1962 to 1969. He recorded as a leader for Mercury (1947-1949), Aristocrat (1948-1950), Chess (1950-1951), Prestige (1950-1952), Decca (1952), and United (1952-1953). For the rest of his career, he was affiliated with Prestige. After his release from prison in 1969, having served a seven-year sentence at Joliet penitentiary, he signed the largest contract ever offered at that time by Prestige's Bob Weinstock.^[4]

Ammons died in Chicago in 1974, at the age of 49, from cancer.^[5]

Style[link]

Ammons and Von Freeman were the founders of the Chicago school of tenor saxophone. Ammons's style of playing showed influences from Lester Young as well as Ben Webster. These artists had helped develop the sound of the tenor saxophone to higher levels of expressiveness. Ammons, together with Dexter Gordon and Sonny Stitt, helped integrate their developments with the emerging "vernacular" of the bebop movement, and the chromaticism and rhythmic variety of Charlie Parker is evident in his playing.

While adept at the technical aspects of bebop, in particular its love of harmonic substitutions, Ammons more than Young, Webster or Parker, stayed in touch with the commercial blues and R&B of his day. For example, in 1950 the saxophonist's recording of "My Foolish Heart" made Billboard Magazine's black pop charts.^[2] The soul jazz movement of the mid-1960s, often using the combination of tenor saxophone and Hammond B3 electric organ, counts him as a founder. With a thicker, warmer tone than Stitt or Gordon, Ammons could at will exploit a vast range of textures on the instrument, vocalizing it in ways that look forward to later artists like Stanley Turrentine, Houston Person, and even Archie Shepp. Ammons showed little interest, however, in the modal jazz of John Coltrane, Joe Henderson or Wayne Shorter that was emerging at the same time.

Some fine ballad performances in his oeuvre are testament to an exceptional sense of intonation and melodic symmetry, powerful lyrical expressiveness, and mastery both of the blues and the bebop vernacular that can now be described as, in its own way, "classical."

King Pleasure recorded his [vocalese] take on Ammons' composition "Hittin' the Jug" under the title "Swan Blues".

"Answer Me, My Love" written by Fred Rauch, Carl Sigman and Gerhard Winkler, performed by Gene Ammons, is featured on the soundtrack for Romance & Cigarettes (2005). He played on a Bb Conn 10M tenor saxophone with a Brilhart Ebolin mouthpiece.

Ammons is considered a major influence on the style of popular jazz tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman.^[6]

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

• Golden Saxophone (1952) (Savoy)
• The Happy Blues (1956) (Prestige)
• Jammin' with Gene (1956) (Prestige)
• Funky (1957) (Prestige reissued on Original Jazz Classics)
• The Twister (1957) (Prestige)
• Jammin' in Hi-fi (1957) (Prestige)
• Blue Gene (1958) (Prestige)
• Groove Blues (1958) (Prestige)
• The Big Sound (1958) (Prestige)
• The Swingin'est (1958) (Vee-Jay) with Bennie Green
• Boss Tenor (1960) (Prestige)
• Angel Eyes (1960) (Prestige)
• Nice and Cool (1961) (Prestige)
• Jug (1961) (Prestige)
• Groovin' with Jug featuring Groove Holmes (1961) (Pacific Jazz)
• Dig him featuring Sonny Stitt (1961) (Argo)
• Boss Tenors Straight Ahead From Chicago with Sonny Stitt (1961) (Prestige)
• Boss Tenors! with Sonny Stitt (1961) (Verve)
• Just Jug (1961) (Argo)
• Twisting the Jug (1961) (Prestige)
• Boss Tenors in Orbit! (1962) (Verve)
• Soul Summit (1962) (Prestige)
• Soul Summit Vol. 2 (1962) (Prestige)
• The Soulful Moods (1962) (Moodsville)
• Blue Groove (1962) (Prestige)
• Preachin' (1962) (Prestige)
• Jug and Dodo w/ Dodo Marmarosa (1962) (Prestige)
• Bad ! Bossa Nova (1962) (Prestige)
• The Boss is Back (1969) (Prestige)
• Brother Jug (1969) (Prestige)
• Night Lights (1970) (Prestige)
• Swingin' the Jug (1970) (Roots)
• Hooray for Gene Ammons (1970) (Session)
• The Chase with Dexter Gordon (1970) (Prestige)
• The Black Cat (1970) (Prestige)
• You Talk that Talk ! (1971) (Prestige)
• My Way (1971) (Prestige)
• Chicago Concert w/ James Moody (1971) (Prestige)
• Free Again (1972) (Prestige)
• God Bless Jug and Sonny (1973) (Prestige)
• Left Bank Encores (1973) (Prestige)
• And Friends at Montreux (1973) (Prestige)
• In Sweden (1973) (Enja)
• Brasswind (1973) (Prestige)
• Together Again for the Last Time with Sonny Stitt (1973) (Prestige)
• Goodbye (1974) (Original Jazz Classics)
• Acid Jazz (1997) (Legends Of) (recorded 1962, 70, 71 Rudy Van Gelder) (Prestige)

As sideman[link]

With Charles Mingus

• Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert (Columbia, 1972)

References[link]

External links[link]

• allmusic
• MusicWeb Encyclopaedia of Popular Music
• Online 78 RPM Discographical Project - Aristocrat
• Tribute to Gene Ammons

Horace Silver
Horace Silver by Dmitri Savitski, 1989.
Background information
Birth name	Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva[1]
Born	(1928-09-02) September 2, 1928 (age 83)
Origin	Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S.
Genres	Post bop Modal jazz Mainstream jazz Soul jazz Jazz fusion Hard bop
Occupations	Pianist Composer Bandleader
Instruments	Piano
Associated acts	Horace Silver Quintet Horace Silver Trio Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers

Horace Silver (born September 2, 1928), born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer.^[1]

Silver is known for his distinctive humorous and funky playing style and for his pioneering compositional contributions to hard bop. He was influenced by a wide range of musical styles, notably gospel music, African music, and Latin American music and sometimes ventured into the soul jazz genre.^[2]

Early life and career[link]

His father, who was known as John Tavares Silva, was from the island of Maio in Cape Verde. His mother was born in New Canaan, Connecticut, and was of Irish-African descent.

Silver began his career as a tenor saxophonist but later switched to piano. His tenor saxophone playing was highly influenced by Lester Young, and his piano style by Bud Powell. Silver was discovered in the Sundown Club in Hartford, Connecticut. in 1950 by saxophonist Stan Getz. Getz was playing at the club with Silver’s trio backing him up. Getz liked Silver’s band and brought them on the road, eventually recording three of Silver’s compositions. It was with Getz that Silver made his recording debut.

He moved to New York City in 1951, where he worked at the jazz club Birdland on Monday nights, when different musicians would come together and informally jam. During that year he met the executives of the label Blue Note while working as a sideman. He eventually signed with them where he remained until 1980. It was in New York that he formed The Jazz Messengers, a co-operatively run group with Art Blakey.

In 1952 and 1953 he recorded three sessions with his own trio, featuring Blakey on drums and Gene Ramey, Curly Russell and Percy Heath on bass. The drummer-pianist team lasted for four years; during this time, Silver and Blakey recorded at Birdland (A Night at Birdland Vol. 1) with Russell, Clifford Brown and Lou Donaldson, at the Bohemia with Kenny Dorham and Hank Mobley, and also in the studios. He was also a member of the Miles Davis All Stars, recording the influential Walkin' in 1954.

Blue Note years[link]

From 1956 onwards, Silver recorded exclusively for the Blue Note label, eventually becoming close to label boss Alfred Lion who allowed him greater input on aspects of album production than was usual at the time. During his years with Blue Note, Silver helped to create the rhythmically forceful branch of jazz known as "hard bop", which combined elements of rhythm-and-blues and gospel music with jazz. Gospel elements are particularly prominent on one of his biggest hits, "The Preacher", which Lion thought corny, but Silver persuaded him to record it.

While Silver's compositions at this time featured surprising tempo shifts and a range of melodic ideas, they caught the attention of a wide audience. Silver's own piano playing easily shifted from aggressively percussive to lushly romantic within just a few bars. At the same time, his sharp use of repetition was funky even before that word could be used in polite company. Along with Silver's own work, his bands often featured such rising jazz stars as saxophonists Junior Cook and Hank Mobley, trumpeter Blue Mitchell, and drummer Louis Hayes. Some of his key albums from this period included Horace Silver Trio (1953), Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers (1955), 6 Pieces of Silver (1956) and Blowin' the Blues Away (1959), which includes his famous, "Sister Sadie." He also combined jazz with a sassy take on pop through the 1961 hit, "Filthy McNasty".

Influences[link]

Silver tended not to play up that he was proficient in Portuguese, nor draw directly on his rich Lusophone musical upbringing. His 1965 hit, "Cape Verdean Blues," is the only clear rhythmic reference to his childhood home where his father and friends jammed, with traditional Capeverdean morna and coladeira as the main fare. In the interview for the liner notes to 1964's Song for My Father (Cantiga Para Meu Pai), however, Silver remarked of the title track, "This tune is an original of mine, but it has a flavor of it that makes me think of my childhood days. Some of the family, including my father and my uncle, used to have musical parties with three or four stringed instruments; my father played violin and guitar. Those were happy, informal sessions." Silver melded additional Lusophone influences into his music directly after his February 1964 tour of Brazil. Referring to "Song for My Father," Silver said, "I was very much impressed by the authentic bossa nova beat. Not just the monotonous tick-tick-tick, tick-tick, the way it's usually done, but the real bossa nova feeling, which I've tried to incorporate into this number."

His early influences included the styles of boogie-woogie and the blues. It includes but is not limited to Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, Nat “King” Cole, and Thelonious Monk. He liked to quote other musicians within his own work and would often recreate famous solos in his original pieces as something of a tribute to the greats who influenced him.

During Silver's time with Blakey he rarely recorded as a leader, but after splitting with him in 1956, formed his own hard bop quintet at first featuring the same line-up as Blakey's Jazz Messengers with 18-year-old Louis Hayes replacing Blakey. The quintet's more enduring line-up featured Blue Mitchell and Junior Cook.

In 1963 Silver created a new group featuring Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone and Carmell Jones on trumpet; this quintet recorded most of Silver's best-known album Song for My Father. When Jones left to settle in Europe, the trumpet chair was filled by a young Woody Shaw and Tyrone Washington replaced Henderson.

Silver's compositions, catchy and very strong harmonically, gained popularity while his band gradually switched to funk and soul. This change of style was not readily accepted by many long-time fans. The quality of several albums of this era, such as The United States of Mind (on which Silver himself provided vocals on several tracks), is to this day contested by fans of the genre. Silver's spirituality displayed on these albums also has a mixed reputation. However, many of these later albums featured many interesting musicians (such as Randy Brecker). Silver was the last musician to be signed to Blue Note in the 1970s before it went into temporary hiatus. In 1981 he formed his own short-lived labels, Silveto and Emerald.

Later years[link]

After Silver's long tenure with Blue Note ended, he continued to create vital music. The 1985 album, Continuity of Spirit (Silveto), features his unique orchestral collaborations. In the 1990s, Silver directly answered the urban popular music that had been largely built from his influence on It's Got To Be Funky (Columbia, 1993). Now living surrounded by a devoted family in California, Silver has received much of the recognition due a venerable jazz icon. In 2005, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) gave him its President's Merit Award. The SFJazz Collective focused on Horace Silver's music for their 2010 season.^[3]

Legacy[link]

Silver's music has been a major force in modern jazz. He was one of the first pioneers of the style known as hard bop, influencing such pianists as Bobby Timmons, Les McCann, and Ramsey Lewis. Second, the instrumentation of his quintet (trumpet, tenor sax, piano, double bass, and drums) served as a model for small jazz groups from the mid-1950s until the late 1960s.^{[citation needed]} Further, Silver's ensembles provided an important training ground for young players, many of whom (such as Donald Byrd, Art Farmer, Blue Mitchell, Woody Shaw, Junior Cook, and Joe Henderson) later led similar groups of their own.

Silver's talent did not go unnoticed among rock musicians who bore jazz influences, either; Steely Dan sent Silver into the Top 40 in the early 1970s when they crafted their biggest hit single, "Rikki, Don't Lose That Number," off the bass riff that opens "Song for My Father."

As social and cultural upheavals shook the nation during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Silver responded to these changes through music. He commented directly on the new scene through a trio of records called United States of Mind (1970–1972) that featured the spirited vocals of Andy Bey. The composer got deeper into cosmic philosophy as his group, Silver 'N Strings, recorded Silver 'N Strings Play The Music of the Spheres (1979).

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

Blue Note Records

• 1955: Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers
• 1956: "Horace Silver Trio"
• 1956: 6 Pieces of Silver
• 1957: The Stylings of Silver
• 1958: Further Explorations
• 1958: Live at Newport '58
• 1959: Finger Poppin'
• 1959: Blowin' the Blues Away
• 1960: Horace-Scope
• 1961: Doin' the Thing
• 1962: The Tokyo Blues
• 1963: Silver's Serenade
• 1964: Song for My Father
• 1965: The Cape Verdean Blues
• 1966: The Jody Grind
• 1968: Serenade to a Soul Sister
• 1969: You Gotta Take a Little Love
• 1970: That Healin' Feelin'
• 1971: Total Response
• 1972: All
• 1972: In Pursuit of the 27th Man
• 1975: Silver 'n Brass
• 1976: Silver 'n Wood
• 1977: Silver 'n Voices
• 1978: Silver 'n Percussion
• 1979: Silver 'n Strings Play the Music of the Spheres

Silveto Records/Emerald Records

• 1964: Live 1964
• 1965: The Natives are Restless Tonight
• 1981: Guides to Growing Up
• 1983: Spiritualizing the Senses
• 1984: There's No Need to Struggle
• 1985: The Continuity of Spirit
• 1988: Music to Ease Your Disease

Columbia Records

• 1956: Silver's Blue
• 1993: It's Got to Be Funky
• 1994: Pencil Packin' Papa

Impulse! Records

• 1996: The Hardbop Grandpop
• 1997: A Prescription for the Blues

Other labels

• 1962: Paris Blues (Pablo)
• 1991: Rockin' with Rachmaninoff (Bop City)
• 1999: Jazz Has a Sense of Humor (Verve)

Compilations

• The Best of Horace Silver: The Blue Note Years
• The Best of Horace Silver Vol. II
• Retrospective
• The United States of Mind (Blue Note) - compiles That Healin' Feelin', Total Response, and All

As sideman[link]

with Nat Adderley :

• Introducing Nat Adderley (1955, EmArcy)

with Art Blakey :

• A Night at Birdland Vol. 1 (1954, Blue Note)
• A Night at Birdland Vol. 2 (1954, Blue Note)
• A Night at Birdland Vol. 3 (1954, Blue Note)
• At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1 (1955, Blue Note)
• At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2 (1955, Blue Note)
• Art Blakey with the Original Jazz Messengers (1956, Columbia)
• Originally (1956, Columbia)

with Dee Dee Bridgewater :

• Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver (1994, Verve)

with Kenny Burrell :

• K.B. Blues (1957, Blue Note)

with Donald Byrd :

• Byrd's Eye View (1955, Transition)

with Paul Chambers :

• Whims of Chambers (1956, Blue Note)

with Kenny Clarke :

• Bohemia After Dark (1955, Savoy)

with Al Cohn :

• Al Cohn's Tones (1953, Savoy)

with Miles Davis :

• Miles Davis Volume 1 (1954, Blue Note Records)
• Blue Haze (1954, Prestige Records)
• Walkin' (1954, Prestige Records)
• Bags' Groove (1954, Prestige Records)

with Kenny Dorham :

• Afro-Cuban (1955, Blue Note Records)

with Lou Donaldson :

• Quartet/Quintet/Sextet (1952, Blue Note Records)

with Art Farmer :

• Early Art (1954, Prestige)
• Art Farmer Septet (1954, Prestige)

with Leonard Feather :

• Cats vs. Chicks (1954, MGM)

with Stan Getz :

• The Complete Roost Recordings (1951, Blue Note Records)
• Birdland Sessions (1952, Fresh Sound)

With Giant of Jazz

• Giants of Jazz (1955, Mercury Records)

with Terry Gibbs :

• Jazz USA (1951, Brunswick)

with Gigi Gryce :

• When Farmer Met Gryce (1954, Prestige)
• Nica's Tempo (1955, Savoy)

with Coleman Hawkins :

• Disorder at the Border (1952, Spotlite)

with J. J. Johnson :

• The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume 2 (1955, Blue Note)

with Milt Jackson :

• Milt Jackson Quartet/Quintet (1954, Prestige Records)
• Milt Jackson Quartet (1955, Prestige Records)
• Plenty, Plenty Soul (1957, Atlantic)

with Cliff Jordan & John Gilmore

• Blowing in from Chicago (1957, Blue Note)

with Howard McGhee :

• Howard McGhee, Volume 2 (1953, Blue Note)

with Hank Mobley :

• Hank Mobley Quartet (1955, Blue Note)
• The Jazz Message of Hank Mobley (1956, Savoy)
• Hank Mobley Sextet (1956, Blue Note)
• Hank Mobley and his All Stars (1957, Blue Note)
• Hank Mobley Quintet (1957, Blue Note)

with J. R. Monterose :

• J. R. Monterose (1956, Blue Note)

with Lee Morgan :

• Lee Morgan Indeed! (1956, Blue Note)
• Lee Morgan Sextet (1956, Blue Note)

with Clifford Jordan and John Gilmore :

• Blowing in from Chicago (1957, Blue Note)

with Rita Reys :

• The Cool Voice of Rita Reys (1956, Columbia)

with Sonny Rollins :

• Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2 (1957, Blue Note)

with Sonny Stitt :

• Arrangements by Richards (1953, Roost/Mosaic)

with Clark Terry :

• Introducing Clark Terry (1955, EmArcy)

with Phil Urso :

• The Philosophy of Urso (1954, Savoy)

with Lester Young :

• The Pres Box, Vol. 10-12 (1953, Jazz Up)

Quotation[link]

Funky means earthy and blues-based. It might not be blues itself, but it does have that 'down-home' feel to it. Soul is basically the same, but there's an added dimension of feeling and spirit.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Horace Silver Discography at the Hard Bop Home Page
• Horace Silver entry at the Jazz Discography Project
• Listening In: An Interview with Horace Silver by Bob Rosenbaum, Los Angeles, December 1981 (PDF file)
• "The Dozens: Twelve Essential Horace Silver Recordings" by Bill Kirchner (Jazz.com)