Like Bill Evans, Horace Silver was unlike any other jazz pianist. The father of funk, Silver was brilliant at chord voicings, rhythm, original melodies and, most of all, harmony. He also was one of the originators of hard bop in 1952.
Discovered in Hartford, Ct., by Stan Getz in 1950, Silver led a quintet for much of his career, starting in 1956. The format was perfect for expressing his dynamic and exotic originals. Melodies were catchy and the horns were arranged tightly for maximum impact.
One of my favorite albums by Silver is The Stylings of Silver, recorded in May 1957. And one of my favorite songs on the LP is The Back Beat. It's a mid-tempo ballad that lets you hear all of Silver's genius in one track. The album cover is wonderful as well, with Silver posing on the stairs at New York's Rockefeller Center.
The lineup on the song is Horace Silver (p), Art Farmer (tp), Hank Mobley (ts), Teddy Kotick (b) and Louis Hayes (d). We get the smokiness of Mobley and the spry trumpet of Farmer along with Kotick's in-the-pocket bass and Hayes's provocative drums.
What I love about this song, like many of Silver's originals, is it keeps moving musically. Shifting from minor to major, there's continuous change. For many who are unfamiliar with Silver, The Back Beat is a perfect gateway to his music. So many of his recordings are sensational and sensual and have weathered the test of time.
Here's the Horace Silver Quintet playing The Back Beat...
Other Perfection tracks in this ongoing series...
