Blue Note Announces Horace Silver’s Previously Unreleased ‘Silver In Seattle: Live At The Penthouse’
The show was captured 60 years ago at The Penthouse jazz club in Seattle, Washington
Blue Note Records has announced the October 24 release of Horace Sliver’s Silver In Seattle: Live At The Penthouse, a never-before-issued live recording captured 60 years ago at The Penthouse jazz club in Seattle, Washington on August 12 and 19, 1965.
The album features a short-lived — though powerful — lineup of the pianist’s quintet with Woody Shaw on trumpet, Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone, Teddy Smith on bass, and Roger Humphries on drums performing uninhibited renditions of Silver classics including ‘Song For My Father,’ ‘The Cape Verdean Blues,’ ‘The Kicker,’ ‘Sayonara Blues,’ and ‘No Smokin’.’
Transferred from the original tapes recorded by KING-FM radio host and engineer Jim Wilke and mastered by Matthew Lutthans at the Mastering Lab, the broadcast quality recording presents one of the greatest hard bop bands of all time delivering a high-energy, crowd-pleasing performance in an intimate club setting.
Produced for release by Zev Feldman, Silver In Seattle will be released on LP and CD, both of which include an elaborate booklet with rare photos by Francis Wolff, Burt Goldblatt, Jean-Pierre Leloir, and others. Other details include liner notes by acclaimed jazz scholar Bob Blumenthal and interviews and statements with drummer Roger Humphries, Silver band alumni Randy Brecker and Alvin Queen, rising star pianist Sullivan Fortner, and more.
Bob Blumenthal said of the release: “In what might be called the 33 1/3 era, Horace Silver was Blue Note’s quintessential recording artist. From his initial session as a leader in 1952 until the label’s temporary shutdown in 1979 he represented a model of the originality, innovation and consistency that became a label hallmark; and despite changes in the musical environment and his own style, he remained one of jazz’s most widely revered artists. The present newly discovered performances, taped at Seattle’s Penthouse jazz club roughly halfway through his affiliation with Blue Note captures Silver and his music at a critical part of the journey.”
Zev Feldman added: “It’s an enormous honor to present this Horace Silver album, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse. Of all the artists in the pantheon of jazz, Horace is absolutely one of my favorites. Horace Silver embodies the language of jazz. His unique personality beams out of his music in every composition and album… These recordings we present here are absolutely astounding; a source of inspiration and awe.”
Don Was concluded: “It’s not out of line to say that Blue Note would not exist today without Horace Silver’s impactful approach to playing, writing and grooving. This makes Zev’s discovery of these tapes even more significant: we’ve been given a mind-blowing opportunity to glimpse Mr. Silver and his group stretching out in a live setting at the height of his popularity and creativity. Silver in Seattle provides a missing link in our understanding of Horace Silver’s music and is an essential addition to his recorded legacy on Blue Note.”
Pre-order Silver In Seattle: Live At The Penthouse on vinyl and pre-save on all streaming platforms.
