{"id":2696,"date":"2011-06-09T11:57:55","date_gmt":"2011-06-09T18:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=2696"},"modified":"2017-11-21T12:22:27","modified_gmt":"2017-11-21T20:22:27","slug":"sing-along-with-horace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2011\/06\/sing-along-with-horace\/","title":{"rendered":"Sing Along With Horace"},"content":{"rendered":"

Woke up this morning (no, that is not going to be the beginning of a blues lyric)\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6and made this the background music to preparations for the day.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I chose it because I wanted something that had solos I could sing, hum and whistle along with as I fixed breakfast. Every note of Horace Silver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s second Blue Note album<\/a>, the first by the Jazz Messengers, has been embedded in my brain since shortly after it was released in 1955. My record collection then consisted of 10 or 12 LPs. This was one of them. I played it so often that Silver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, Kenny Dorham\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Hank Mobley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s solos and Art Blakey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drum choruses became part of my mind\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s musical furniture. Silver, Blakey and bassist Doug Watkins comprised a rhythm section that was the standard for what came to be called, for better or for worse, hard bop<\/a>. Dorham and Mobley, with their deep knowledge of chord-based improvisation, constructed some of their most memorable solos. Silver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s compositions\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand one by Mobley\u00e2\u20ac\u201dare classics.<\/p>\n

Having heard \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Room 608,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Preacher,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Doodlin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and the other tunes on this indispensable album this morning, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll feel good all day. Listen, and you will, too.<\/p>\n

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