The Jazz Culture Feature
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Chruch at 290 Henry St, NYC at Horace Silver's Memorial The Jazz Culture, V.III:28
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OBITUARY HORACE SILVER Horace Silver’s Memorial took place in the St. Augustine of Hippo Church, an Episcopal church on the lower east side with Romanesque style of architecture with a crowded nave, this evening full of the jazz community in New York and diehard Horace Silver fans, a church that reminded Mr. Silver of the churches in Connecticut when he grew up, unpretentious and devout. There was a portrait of Mr. Silver in the front of the nave, wearing a bright greenish-blue shirt. He was born in September 28, 1928, in Norwalk, Connecticut, and died June 18, 2014 in New Rochelle. Mr. Silver’s father was an immigrant from Cape Verde, and his mother was an Irish-African lady. In 1950 Horace Silver got a break by playing for Stan Getz at the Sundown Club in Connecticut. Mr. Silver moved to New York in 1951 where he played with Coleman Hawkins, Art Blakey and Lester Young. He formed the Jazz Messengers with Art Blakey, hiring everyone for a double album recording session, “The Horace Silver Quintet”: Art Blakey, Doug Watkins, Kenny Dorham and Hank Mobley. Mr. Silver made numerous records with Blue Note for producer Alfred Lions. The hard bop school assimilated elements of Latin, rhythm and blues and gospel as an influence. He worked with Hank Mobley, Junior Cook, Louis Hayes and Blue Mitchell. He later worked with Donald Byrd, singer Andy Bey, the Brecker brothers, Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Benny Golson. Mr. Silver is survived by his son Greg Silver and his wife, Jemela Mwelu, a former fundraiser for SNCC whom he met at the Showboat Club in Philadelphia. Ms. Mwelu’s date for the evening stood her up, and when Horace Silver tapped her on the shoulder, she swirled around, expecting to confront the man who was her date. Horace Silver smiled and asked if she had been waiting long?-- and three years later they were married and their son Greg was on the way. Jemela Mwelu revealed that Horace Silver’s mother died when he 2
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was only nine, and Mr. Silver considered In these pages his mother his best friend, so he was all Horace Silver Memorial broken up and wouldn’t eat. Luckily, a July Listings 5‐6 Great Aunt named Maude stepped up to the John Watson Ad plate who was a great cook, and baked Kuni Mikami Ad beans became his lifelong favorite dish. Roma Jazz Workshop Horace Silver also cooked a mean dish of collard greens to complement the baked beans. Later in life, she recalled that Mr. Silver and his closest personal friends would have cooking contests. Ms. Mwelu once asked Horace Silver’s father why he put Horace on the road to becoming a musician. His father, an immigrant, replied that black men who were not laborers in the United States at the time were either musicians or basketball players, and Horace Silver was too frail to become an athlete. On the weekends, Horace Silver and his father would get all dressed up and take the train into New York, where they went to the Apollo Theatre and saw acts like the Jimmy Lunceford Orchestra. When Horace finished high school he got a job at the rubber factory where his father worked, but he only lasted two weeks, and he left with renewed devotion to music. Ms. Mwelu stated that she was very proud that when Mr. Silver went into his “metaphysical” period, he resisted the backlash of the record companies, who wanted him to create “funky” tunes. Mr. Silver formed two companies on his own, Silveto and Emerald Records. Ms. Mwelu stated that Mr. Silver was a composer ahead of his time. She then said that their son Greg was a musician who would put out his own recordings soon and we should be listening for them on the airwaves. Speaking during the Remembrances section, the great saxophonist Lou Donaldson said that Horace Silver had started as a saxophone player who idolized Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins, musicians with a big beautiful sound. But the weight of the horn attached via the neckstrap was too much for Mr. Silver’s spine, and he was always bent over after that. Mr. Silver had to give up saxophone and switched to piano. “He had to catch up to guys like Wynton Kelly, Walter Bishop and Walter Davis,” said Mr. Donaldson, recalling that The Jazz Culture, V.III:28
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he listened to and …“followed Bud Powell.” Mr. Donaldson said he met Mr. Silver in 1951 or ’52, at a musician’s studio in Harlem that Lou Donaldson was renting for 50 cents an hour. Horace Silver had the studio next door. Mr. Donaldson said that at that time, a musician couldn’t practice in Harlem because if you made too much noise, somebody would come and kick in the door. So Mr. Donaldson found a guy who owned a house where the bedrooms had become studios. But Mr. Donaldson didn’t have to pay too many fifty cents’ per hour because the house owner would get two or three dollars and then he went out in the street looking for the Vitamin Man. Then he practiced for hours and hours. Sometimes Mr. Donaldson would be playing “Confirmation,” and Horace Silver would comp along with him, as he was playing piano in the next room and could hear him. So they got to be friendly, and one day Mr. Donaldson asked him if he could play the blues. Mr. Silver said yes. Mr. Donaldson had a gig in the Baby Grand, and hired Mr. Silver. During the gig, Mr. Donaldson said, “You don’t know the first thing about the blues.” He gave Horace Silver some records with “Long Gone” and “After Hours” on them. Mr. Donaldson recalled that Mr. Silver’s first hit was “The Preacher,” on Blue Note. Mr. Donaldson recalled going to sanctified churches where the preachers were not graduates of theology schools. “Actually,” he said, “they looked like a pimp.” He recalled a preacher named Reverend Moses. “People wanted to see him dance. The organ player would go into a swing beat.” Mr. Silver dedicated several records to Mr. Donaldson, including “Mary,” named for a barmaid at a bar they played at who was well endowed, whom Mr. Donaldson thought was in love with him. So Horace Silver wrote a song titled “Mary.” Mr. Donaldson recalled noticing that Mr. Silver’s left hand was weak, saying that “Your left hand looks like you cont. p. 7 4
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Crowd overflows onto sidewalk after Horace Silver's memorial service on the lower east side of Manhattan. 6
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have muscular dystrophy,” and advised him to practice and develop his left hand. Horace Silver worked very hard on his left hand, and ended up with great lines. Mr. Donaldson said Horace Silver was not a virtuoso technically, but developed his own style and sound and presence, because he had musical talent and was “the most prolific jazz composer we had during that period…everything [he wrote] went to your heart, and he went on out of sight…” Mr. Donaldson then noted that he was studying the “Great Day in Harlem” photograph last night, because he knew all those musicians, and he thought there were only two people still alive from that picture: Benny Golson and Sonny Rollins. He said he was one of the few who went to visit Mr. Silver after he was less active on the scene, Louis Hayes being another. Mr. Donaldson then received a standing ovation. A band with trumpeter, saxophonist, bongos, trap drums, piano and bass was interspersed between spoken parts of the memorial and played some of Mr. Silver’s most popular songs, including: Strolling, Song for my Father, and Peace. Louis Hayes spoke, saying that he got a phone call in 1956 from Horace Silver asking him to come to New York and record with him, and that Horace Silver gave him five record dates from 1956-59. Mr. Silver met him at the train station when he came into town, took him to the Alvin Hotel and “checked me in right on Broadway, across the street from Birdland.” Mr. Silver then gave him some recordings of the songs he was intending to record. Mr. Hayes explained to the crowded church that usually musicians have to come to New York and work their way up and get a break from a star later, but Mr. Silver just telephoned him and brought him to New York. Mr. Hayes then said, “Thank you, Horace Silver, thank you.” Reverend St. Pierre conducted the ceremony, speaking at the Anthem, a selection from the Gospel of John, the Homily, the 8
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Commendation, Blessings & Dismissal. Ms. Mwelu delivered the Euology and read Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…” Mr. Silver’s goddaughter Kimberly Williams read from the Liturgy of the Word, the Old Testament: Isaiah, and Greg Silver made remarks for the Family. Recordings of Horace Silver were played at the Prelude and Recessional. Horace Silver wrote an autobiography, “Let’s Get to the Nitty Gritty.” He was named a Jazz Master by the NEA in 1995. He won a President’s Merit Award from the Recording Academy in 2005. He leaves behind a large discography and songbooks, and his work is widely played.
HORACE WARD MARTIN TAVARES SILVER September 2, 1928--June 18, 2014
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"Music is my life and I hope to be able to do it all my life, until the very last moment whenmy spirit leaves my body. I'm so happy that I was blessed with the gift of music. It has seen me through my life. When everything else gets down, when I get the blues, I always think, 'well, I've got music.' I may have lost this and lost that, but I've still got music. Lady music has not left me. She's always my sweetheart," he laughs. "She ain't never gonna leave me, because she loves me and I love her. This is forever. What's the song? "This isn't Sometimes, This is Always." --Horace Silver
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Many pianists came, including Barry Harris, Michael Weiss, Kate Coslo, James Austin, Philip Bingham, Danny Mixon, Lafayette Harris, and M. Ferghu
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Leroy Williams discusses program with a fan; attendees of memorial pour out ofthe St. Augustine ofHippo Church
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Richard Clements, Lafayette Harris, Kenny Gates and Bertha Hope, pianists 12
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Links: Lionelleh.com, lostpuppyblues.com The Jazz Culture, V.III:28
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Lou Donaldson spoke at Horace Silver's Memorial, lauding his friend and stablemate and remembering how the knowledge of the piano acquired from Mr. Donaldson's mother, who taught classical piano, was useful in giving tips to Horace Silver, such as working on his left hand. Louis Hayes was a talented drummer in Detroit when one day out ofthe blue, he got a phone call from Horace Silver that changed his life: an invitation to come to New York and record with Mr. Silver.
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