Horace Silver's New Musical Direction
Filmmaker's Blog - Episode 1
As noted previously, Horace Silver underwent a musical shift in the late 1960s. Despite the considerable success of his first Quintet, featuring Blue Mitchell and Junior Cook, and his mid 60s group with Woody Shaw and Joe Henderson, Horace felt compelled to explore a different musical path.
Driven by an increasing sense of spirituality, he disbanded the quintet to focus on crafting lyrics and music for a series of albums titled "The United States of Mind." This marked a significant turning point as Horace began infusing his philosophical and spiritual concepts into his music. However, his new approach, which included writing lyrics, singing, and utilizing larger group formats, received mixed reviews.
His longtime label, Blue Note Records, showed little enthusiasm for this new direction, given the quintet's immense popularity and commercial success. Despite initial resistance from the label, Horace, who had complete artistic freedom under his Blue Note contract, proceeded with two more "United States of Mind" recordings, which met a similar reception.
With five more recordings left on his contract, Blue Note's sale to Liberty Records signaled the end of his tenure. Without the support of Blue Note's founders, Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, Horace continued to pursue his new musical direction. His subsequent recordings incorporated elements such as strings, brass, percussion, and vocals, showcasing more of his lyrical compositions alongside a series of suites.
In 1977, he recorded and released Silver ‘n Percussion. One side featured his African Ascension Suite, the other, a suite he entitled The Great Indian Uprising.
He performed the music during live engagements during the period. For interesting contrast, here’s the recorded version of his composition, The Mohican and the Great Spirit, from the Great American Uprising, Part 3, featuring Tom Harrell on trumpet, Larry Schneider on tenor saxophone, Ron Carter on bass and Al Foster on drums, with additional percussion.
And here’s the live version, from a concert I found on Sugarmegs. The Horace Silver Quintet, Stadsgehoorzaal, Kampen, The Netherlands, March 8. 1979. Horace Silver - Piano; Larry Schneider - Tenor Saxophone; John McNeil - Trumpet, Fluegelhorn; Todd Coolman - Bass; Harold White - Drums.
In the Horace Silver documentary I’m producing, this musical transition and Horace’s spiritual life is discussed in more detail.
If you’d like to help support the film, please visit: It’s Got To Be Funky.
I had only been on the band for about three weeks at the time of this gig. Eventually Horace taught me. and I became to fully understand, that the precise feeling and placement of the ostinato was crucial to providing freedom to the piano and drums in the rhythm section. The final 6:30 of the live track clearly illustrates the point. P.S. - If Horace had known that this performance was being recoded, he would have thrown a fit. Thankfully, someone did... :-)
It's lamentable that even a label like Blue Note wouldn't stick with him as far as artist development and evolution. That subject--covering the recording contracts of Miles, Trane and many others, is a topic in itself.
While Horace's newer offerings may not have been deemed as commercial as his previous hits, if this tune is any example, there's no reason why the suits couldn't have gotten behind it. Especially with the live version, you can hear the audience digs it.
It's so cool to hear what cats do on an open vamp like that. You can hear how Horace was enjoying going outside and inside, exploring the cracks and stretching out!