Marking the 85th Anniversary of Blue Note Records, July through November will see the release of a limited series of coloured vinyl, available exclusively to brick and mortar Indie stores. These opaque blue 180g all-analog vinyl reissues in standard packaging, with OBI strip are mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes. The run of ten titles presents some of the most iconic Blue Note masterpieces by Jazz legends Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, Dexter Gordon, and Cannonball Adderley.
A decade into his recording career, pianist Horace Silver made the album that would endure as the crown jewel of a catalogue that boasts numerous hard bop classics. Song For My Father captured the transition of his quintet with two tracks taken from an October 1963 session with Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook, Gene Taylor, and Roy Brooks.
A year later Silver entered Val Gelder Studio again with a new band featuring Carmell Jones, Joe Henderson, Teddy Smith, and Roger Humphries for a session that yielded four more cuts including what would become his signature tune, “Song for My Father,” a dedication to his father that was inspired by both his Cape Verdean heritage and the music Silver had heard on a recent trip to Brazil.
