HORACE SILVER AND THE JAZZ MESSENGERS

Description

"Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers" is a 1956 reissue of the two previous LPs "Horace Silver Quintet" and "Horace Silver Quintet, Vol. 2" by jazz pianist Horace Silver. These are the first sessions in which he uses the quintet format, featuring drummer Art Blakey along with Hank Mobley (tenor saxophone), Kenny Dorham (trumpet), and Doug Watkins (bass), a format he would extensively use for the rest of his career. The album blends bebop influences with blues and gospel sensations. These recordings helped establish the hard bop style. Scott Yanow on Allmusic describes it as "a true classic." One of the album's most successful tracks, "The Preacher," was almost rejected for recording by producer Alfred Lion, who thought it was "too old," but it was reinstated at the insistence of Blakey and Silver, who threatened to cancel the session unless he wrote another piece to record instead if it was not included. According to Silver, the piece showed that the group could "go back and capture that barroom feel of the good old days with just a hint of the back-beat."