I like the record, though 4 of the 7 tracks are quartet tracks without horns and feature the vibes of David Friedman.
The 3 typical Horace funky styled tracks are fantastic as usual, funky groove tracks that Silver was known for throughout his career.
These tracks feature the Brecker Brothers, Michael and Randy on Sax and trumpet respectively.
"Liberated Brother" the Weldon Irvin penned tune seems right at home with Silver. Obviously Irvin is influenced by Horace. A nice island funk groove by the quintet as you might expect.
"Gregory is Here" another quintet track which was coined for Horace's son, and another nice funky piano number. Hard to believe Horace hadn't run out of ideas by now, it was 1972 after all, and there it was 20 years plus later, and he's still cranking out quality hard bop themes.
"Nothing Can Stop Me Now" another catchy gospel tinged tune that gets as down home as you can get, yet stays in the jazz realm, this IS funky soul jazz at its finest.
The David Friedman Vibraphone Tracks:
Admittedly, I like these quartet tracks the best on the album, the sheer oddness of them in the Silver discography interests me. Now that I have listened to those above quintet tracks enough, I am left thinking this is really one hell of an album, as diverse as it is.
"Summer in Central Park" another nice perky number, totally befitting its name, another really nice Silver theme. "Kathy" is pure commercial, but still I'm diggin' it.
I must mention the electric bass of Bob Cranshaw here, typically I am not an electric bass fan unless it is in a full blown fusion setting, this is not that. This is straight ahead hard bop with a touch of contemporary flavoring.
Cranshaw has a fat deep tone, not too bright, though not as deep sounding as the acoustic bass, his playing complements the compositions wonderfully here.
The title track at over 9:00 minutes in length is the special treat on the record. An ominous vibe throughout. As Horace said in the liner notes, he envisioned a car chase type of thing here, and I wholeheartedly agree.
It's different for sure, was surprised the first time I heard it on the 4 CD Horace Silver Retrospective Box released a few ago.
The track also reminds me of Freddie Hubbard track of Breaking Point called "Far Away" it has the sort of vibe going on. Mickey Roker does a nice job on drums here, he's really working that ride cymbal.
Friedman stretches out nicely, and shows that he has plenty of ideas to play over top that car chase theme. Of course Horace can't resist being his funky up-beat self.
The track does settle into a very much droning groove, and perhaps could have been shortened by a minute or two. The second half of the track does seem to inspire both Silver and Friedman as they stretch out nearly into avant-garde territory.
The give and take is pretty interesting, hearing Horace spar with a vibe player is certainly interesting and too bad didn't happen more in his career.
The final track is "Strange Vibes" a typical hard bop opening blues vibe; after a while it also drones and drones into an ominous mood.
All in all, In Pursuit of the 27th Man is a strong early 70's effort from one of the all time jazz greats, it definitely belongs in every Horace Silver
collection.
2 comments:
I must admit I gave this a wide birth for far too long probably out of stupid ideas about his later music and a few scares with vocals on some lps but this record really worked for me as several other of his later Blue Notes did too.
If you like it be sure to root around you tube for a live version of this from the late 70's I think like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpxmpE5oK-g
Andy
@Andy Bleaden: No doubt the double disc United States of Mind is one to stay away from if you don't like the vocal numbers much, sadly I didn't like them much at all.
The instrumental stuff is pretty good if not great on "n" records. I see them all the time in the vinyl bargain bins for less than 5 dollars. The Silver 'n Wood is pretty good with the overdubbed brass.
Post a Comment