Horace Silver Quintet
Sereande To A Soul Sister (180gm analogue BN classic series)

Pianist Horace Silver was one of the mainstays of the Blue Note label during their golden years , making his debut with them in 1952, then forming The Jazz Messengers with Art Blakey and staying with the label until 1980 when he formed his own Silveto label. ‘Serenade To A Soul Sister’ was recorded in 1968 and is a superb example of Soul-Jazz. ‘Psychedelic Sally’ is a spritely uptempo number with punchy horns from Stanley Turrentine on sax and Charles Tolliver on trumpet, over a great rhythm track from Horace on Piano,  Bob Cranshaw on bass and Mickey Roker on drums that epitimised Silver’s work. ‘Serenade To A Soul Sister’ is  mid tempo modal jazz track in which Silver plays beautifully topped by great horns from Turrentine and Tolliver. ‘Rain Dance’ is another nice modal tune . ‘Jungle Juice’ and ‘Kindred Spirits’ are more urgent and darker and feature a different line  up with a young Billy Cobham on drums, John Williams on bass and Bennie Maupin on sax. Strong album.