The Horace Silver Quintet – Silver's Serenade

180-gram LP

Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original master tape

Plated and pressed at RTI

The Blue Note Tone Poet Series was born out of Blue Note President Don Was' admiration for the exceptional audiophile Blue Note LP reissues presented by Music Matters. Was brought Joe Harley (from Music Matters), a.k.a. the "Tone Poet," on board to curate and supervise a series of reissues from the Blue Note family of labels.

Recorded in May 1963, Silver's Serenade was the last in a fantastic run of albums that pianist Horace Silver would make with the most celebrated line-up of his Quintet featuring Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Junior Cook on tenor saxophone, Gene Taylor on bass, and Roy Brooks on drums. The core of the band had been together since 1959 and recorded hard bop classics such as Finger Poppin' and Blowin' the Blues Away, with Brooks joining in 1960 on Horace-Scope.

The program on Silver's Serenade consists of five Silver tunes that epitomize his exceptional compositional style: captivating melodies, sophisticated harmonies, and intricate rhythmic inventions with a soulful and unerring sense of swing at the core. From the relaxed groove of the opening title track to the hard-charging finale "Nineteen Bars" the Quintet delivers their swan song with style.