Horace Silver: Silver’s Serenade (1963) Blue Note

Selection: Let’s Get To The Nitty Gritty (Silver)

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Track List BLP 4131

A1 Silver’s Serenade  9:21
A2 Let’s Get to the Nitty Gritty 7:24
B1 Sweet Sweetie Dee 7:34
B2 The Dragon Lady 7:04
B3 Nineteen Bars 6:21

Artists: Horace Silver Quintet

Blue Mitchell, trumpet; Junior Cook, tenor sax; Horace Silver, piano; Gene Taylor, bass; Roy Brooks, drums; recorded Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, May 7-8, 1963, released July/August 1963

A month before this recording session, in April 1963, several of these tracks were also recorded at Englewood Cliffs by an expanded line up, Horace Silver Tentet,  including Kenny Dorham and Jimmy Heath. For some reason that session was rejected, possibly conflicting artist contractual obligations, and only the Quintet versions released, on BLP 4131. 

Horace had been one of the founding voices of bop and its transition to hard bop in the early ’50s, recording with all the pioneers Stan Getz, Lou Donaldson, Coleman Hawkins, Howard McGhee, Sonny Stitt, Art Blakey, Art Farmer and Miles Davis,  This experience was absorbed, informs his response to rhythmic and harmonic opportunities with the keyboard in front of him. 

The Cook-Mitchell  front line eventually went their own way, Silver tethered Joe Henderson and eventually Woody Shaw, as ever, impeccable taste. Horace Silver retreated in the 70’s and 80’s, returning to recording in the ’90s, eventually earning the epithet, Horace Silver, The Hardbop Grandpop. Silver’s legacy is an essential part of the classic “Blue Note” catalogue.

I remember Horace’s passing in 2014, age 86, at which time I had posted on each of his Blue Note albums except this one; an omission now made good.

Music

Industry reception – Billboard:

Billboard August 23, 1963

The Billboard “review” : lists the names of all the musicians in the quintet, lists the titles of all the songs on the album, in quotes, adds comment that “people who like Horace Silver will find lots here that they like”. Summary: First Rate Wax. Review put to bed, next album please . . . (rolls eyes) 

A little more insightful:  “These five Silver tunes epitomize his compositional style: captivating melodies, sophisticated harmonies, and intricate rhythms with an unerring sense of swing” (Tone Poet); “Funky, soulful, finger poppin’, bluesy, grooving and relaxed all in one” (Amazon reviewer 2012 CD edition); “Silver’s naturalistic trumpet sounds carpal” (Whoops Juno? Silver’s piano’s not bad either, if slightly carpal) wtf is “carpal”?; “Horace’s piano smiles, always a happy sound” (LJC)

Everything revolves around the piano, an all-encompassing rhythm section which gives the horns the opportunity to build on the the groove.  Blue Mitchell and Junior Cook are perfect for the Silver Quintet, swinging without taking over, or showing off, but adding well-judged solo improvisations, everybody working together, uplifting.

The timely 45rpm single release for juke box paired Silver’s Serenade with Let’s get Down To The Nitty Gritty. The Serenade feels like it belongs on board Hancock’s Maiden Voyage, while Nitty Gritty is a pacey marching song blues-walk in which Junior Cook stands in for Hank Mobley, Blue Mitchell understudies for Freddie Hubbard.  I think Amazon’s reviewer got it about right, “finger-poppin’ !“.

Vinyl: BLP 4131 

Mono vinyl, NY labels, VAN GELDER mastering stamp, Plastylite pressing, no DG, Cohen says original pressing should be DG Side 1.

Inner Sleeve: Type 4 (4070-4130;  Dec’62 – Sep’63)

4131 was released between July and August 1963 (timing of Billboard musical spotlight reviews). Type 4 inner sleeve (Don Wilkerson  Preach Brother, Col1, row 5) within the period of use of this design though on the wrong side of the catalogue number range cited for this inner, by one. May be original pressing, given the fluid nature of consumable items at the pressing plant, notwithstanding the absent DG side 1 (see comments below)

OK, cover’s a bit grubby, and the corners aren’t exactly sharp, but it sounds g r e a t, because that’s what Van Gelder mono does.

Collector’s Corner

Our friends at Tone Poet have a very nice gatefold of Horace’s Silver Serenade just out April 2024, a coincidence I’m sure. Stereo I expect.

Nice though the gatefold is, I have already also got a stereo copy – pressed for Liberty from Van Gelder’s stereo master. I guess 1967 because Liberty have printed fresh “Division Of Liberty” labels, printed by the old Blue Note supplier Keystone Printed Specialties, according to the fonts used. There is also  a generic Liberty inner sleeve. The one unfamiliar thing is a ghostly hand etching “114” in the runout both sides. 

Not seen that on All Disc pressing (Update) – apparently, various three digit number combinations have been seen on All Disc pressings. This 114 close up captured on my mobile. The etching is scratched, not very noticeable unless you look hard, clearly not present on the Van Gelder original metal. One for pixel-peepers, but look harder.

LIBERTY STEREO (1967?)

Listen to Selection 2, Liberty Stereo : Let’s Get To The Nitty Gritty

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The other thing that is odd is the Liberty stereo is about 20% lower gain/volume. I’ve left the volume setting the same between the mono and the stereo, for comparison. Must be a feature of the original Van Gelder stereo mastering. Was this Van Gelder anticipating Kevin Gray mastering choices? This may be one of the few times I have ripped the mono and stereo edition side by side, and noticed the difference in output strength. Odd.

So, any Tone Poet aficionados comment on this latest release by Poet-People? Floor is yours.

Gossip Corner (new!)

Shock horror, Mobile Fidelity in sudden outburst of honesty. Have lessons actually been learned?

Putting aside the marketing word-salad, probably confected with the help of Bing Co-Pilot GPT AI Chatbot, I read “DSD 64 ” (Digital Stream Data) intermediary stage between 1957 source tape  and remastering 2024 for vinyl. Whatever the word-salad says, the final product is mastered from a digital file, plain and simple. Informed consent, at least you now know what you get from MoFi. Have the Hoffperson crowd weighed in?

NEWS UPDATE April 21, 2024

“We are heartbroken by the news that our dear friend, the revered producer & Blue Note historian Michael Cuscuna has passed away at age 75.”

 

“It would be impossible to overstate Michael’s importance to the Blue Note legacy, which he worked tirelessly to fortify for nearly 50 years going back to the mid-1970s when he began a series of reissues & archival discoveries that brought to light numerous treasures from the Blue Note vaults.

He continued to release Blue Note catalog reissues on his own Mosaic Records during Blue Note’s dormancy in the early 1980s & was by Bruce Lundvall’s side as the label was relaunched in 1985. Plainly stated, Blue Note Records would not exist as it does today without the passion & dedication of Michael Cuscuna. He was recently awarded a DownBeat Lifetime Achievement Award. Read more about his life & work: downbeat.com/news…“

 Many people spend their time trying to enrich themselves. Cuscuna managed the trick of enriching us, immeasurably. That is a rare achievement, we are all grateful to you, Michael, let the Blue Note music play.

LJC