Wiki
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Release Date
1955
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Length
8 tracks
Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers is a 1956 album by jazz pianist Horace Silver with drummer Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. It was recorded November 13, 1954 (#1-3, 8) and February 6, 1955 (#4-7) and released by Blue Note in October 1956.
It was an important album in the establishment of the hard bop style, and was the first studio album released under the band name The Jazz Messengers, which Blakey would use for the rest of his career. Originally released as an LP, the album has subsequently been reissued on CD several times.
Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers was the first 12" Blue Note album released under Silver’s name. The album is a reissue of two previous 10" LPs – Horace Silver Quintet (BLP 5058) and Horace Silver Quintet, Vol. 2 (BLP 5062) – and the first sessions in which he used the quintet format which he would largely use for the rest of his career. The music on the album mixes bebop influences with blues and gospel feels.
One of the most successful tunes from the album, "The Preacher", was almost rejected for recording by producer Alfred Lion, who thought it was "too old-timey", but reinstated at the insistence of Blakey and Silver, who threatened to cancel the session until he had written another tune to record in its place if it wasn’t included. According to Silver, the track showed that the band could "reach way back and get that old time, gutbucket barroom feeling with just a taste of the back-beat".
Personnel
Horace Silver - piano
Kenny Dorham - trumpet
Hank Mobley - tenor saxophone
Doug Watkins - bass
Art Blakey - drums
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