Featured In
ALBUMLate Night Horace SilverHorace Silver
Albums by Horace Silver
ALBUMThe Tokyo Blues (Rudy Van Gelder Edition) [Remastered]Horace Silver
ALBUMJazz Has a Sense of HumorHorace Silver
ALBUMA Prescription for the BluesHorace Silver
ALBUMHard Bop GrandpopHorace Silver
ALBUMDoin' the Thing: The Horace Silver Quintet At the Village GateHorace Silver
ALBUMSilver 'N Strings Play The Music Of The SpheresHorace Silver
ALBUMSilver 'N PercussionHorace Silver
ALBUMSilver 'N WoodHorace Silver
ALBUMSilver 'N VoicesHorace Silver
ALBUMSilver 'N BrassHorace Silver
Artist Playlists
Horace Silver Essentials
Unlock the keen insights of Blue Note's coolest pianist.
Horace Silver: The Session Musicians
A sideman who suggests the shape of hard bop to come.
Horace Silver: Deep Cuts
A pianist/composer's never-ending quest for gutbucket feeling.
Artist Biography
Born in Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1928, pianist Horace Silver was an important figure in the development of hard bop and soul jazz, emerging in the early 1950s and maintaining widespread appeal until his death in 2014 at age 85. In 1950, his working trio landed a gig behind saxophonist Stan Getz; in its wake, he became an ubiquitous sideman for the likes of Coleman Hawkins, Lou Donaldson, Miles Davis, and Milt Jackson. In 1952, he began his 28-year relationship with Blue Note Records with a trio session featuring drummer Art Blakey. As the Jazz Messengers, they recorded several albums between 1954 and 1956, after which Silver went on to lead his own bands. For the rest of the decade and into the early 1960s, he made a series of acclaimed recordings codifying the sound of hard bop, which cooled the relentless tempo of bebop with a more graceful, measured rhythmic attack. During the mid-’60s, his writing began to incorporate a clear gospel influence, contributing to a groove-oriented soul jazz that reached its pinnacle on 1965’s Song for My Father. In the 1970s Silver dabbled with fusion, but by the following decade he reclaimed an acoustic lineup, more or less retaining his classic sound until his passing.
Hometown
Norwalk, CT, United States
Genre
Jazz