Jazz On The Beach 131: Horace Silver, Miles Davis, A Great Day In Harlem
This week's playlist and links
One of the many highlights on this week’s Jazz On The Beach is the title track from the great pianist and composer Horace Silver’s It’s Got to Be Funky (Columbia, 1993), featuring The Silver Brass Ensemble with guest vocalist Andy Bey and fine soloing from Silver and tenor saxophonists Eddie Harris and Red Holloway. It has a special meaning for me, as on my first day at Sony Jazz UK in 1995 someone had left the disc in the CD player in my new office. I already knew and loved the album, it had been a big favourite where I worked previously at Tower Records Piccadilly, and I took its appearance as a good omen for the future.
So I was more than delighted to see earlier this week that film maker and writer Bret Primack (aka The Jazz Video Guy) posted on his excellent Syncopated Justice that he’s crowdfunding to make a documentary film about Silver to be called It's Got To Be Funky - The Life and Music of Horace Silver. This is something I really want to see, so if you also want to help make film this a reality, go here.
New music this week comes from Tomorrow’s Warriors singer and MOBO Award winner Zara McFarlane with the Giacomo Smith (Kansas Smitty’s) produced The Mystery Of Man from Sweet Whispers: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan (Eternal Source of Light/K7, June 14th). There’s Canadian guitarist Mike Clement, now based in New Orleans and leading a funky organ trio on Temperance from Hittin’ It! (Cellar Door, April), Scottish pianist Fergus McCreadie’s Stony Gate from the deep running Stream (Edition, May 3rd) and the calm and uplifting title track from the London based composer and saxophonist Jasmine Myra’s upcoming Rising (Gondwana, May 3rd).
This week’s jazz rock fusion milestone (it’s becoming a thing) is the first eleven minutes of Miles Davis’ Right Off from the album A Tribute To Jack Johnson (Columbia, 1971). Producer Teo Macero would add this to other edited sections to compile the 27 minute side one of the album that is as good as anything Miles (or anyone else) ever recorded. This first section has it all, an unbelievable bass and drums groove from Michael Henderson and Billy Cobham, slashing power chords from John McLaughlin and one of Miles’ fiercest solos. Here’s what McLaughlin said about it in an interview with Hit Channel in 2018.
“……We didn’t have any music. All the musicians were in the studio and Miles was in the control room talking to the producer Teo Macero, and after 20 minutes I was bored. So I started to play this rhythm and blues shuffle, because I wanted to play. Billy Cobham was there, it was the first time I’d met him and I said: “Ok, let’s play something. I don’t care. Let’s have some fun in the studio. Miles is not here, but we can have fun”. I started to play this R&B beat and we hit a wonderful groove that you can hear on the record and Miles ran into the studio and for the next 10 minutes played the most fantastic trumpet”.
There’s also a handful of tenor titans starting with John Coltrane and Moment’s Notice from Blue Train (Blue Note, 1958) featuring trumpeter Lee Morgan, trombonist Curtis Fuller, pianist Kenny Drew, double bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones. From the more recent past, there’s Michael Brecker’s Anagram from Pilgrimage (Heads Up, 2007) with guitarist Pat Metheny, pianist Brad Mehldau, double bassist John Patitucci and drummer Jack DeJohnette.
Clifford Jordan plays the blues on pianist Mal Waldron’s Charlie Parker’s Last Supper from What It Is (Enjoy, 1981) with double bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Dannie Richmond, while Charles Rouse is Bitchin’ from Two Is One (Strata-East, 1974), with guitarist George Davis, bassist Martin Rivera, drummer David Lee and conguero Azzedin Weston. And finally, Dexter Gordon’s title track from Soy Califa: Live From Magleaas Hojskole 1967 (Gearbox, 2014 that features pianist Kenny Drew (again), double bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen and drummer Albert ‘Tootie’ Heath - the youngest of the three Heath brothers who passed away last week at the age of 88.
Here’s the complete playlist, just click the link below to listen.
Also…
Horace Silver is one of the many wonderful musicians featured in Jean Bach’s iconic film documentary A Great Day In Harlem. If you haven’t watched it lately, here it is.
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