1. 1. Yeah! (Silver) Listen
2. 2. Tokyo Blues (Silver) Listen
3. 3. Baghdad Blues (Silver) Listen
4. 4. Lonely Woman (Silver) Listen
5. 5. Cape Verdean Blues (Silver) Listen
6. 6. Opus de Funk (Silver) Listen
7. 7. Horascope (Silver) Listen
8. 8. Peace (Silver) Listen
9. 9. Juicy Lucy (Silver) Listen
10. 10. Señor Blues (Silver) Listen
11. 11. Finger Poppin' (Silver) Listen

Details

As the title might suggest to the music logically minded, it's a collection of tunes by the legendary Horace Silver, which were originally recorded in Blue Note's golden period of the mid to late 50s. Alan's quintet (consisting of Dave Green, bass; Steve Waterman, trumpet; John Donaldson, piano and Steve Brown, drums) rips into these classic themes with aplomb, playing the hell out of the bop heads and soloing with complete authority. It's the kind of record you can use to warm up your house on a cold day.

Reviews

Do you need this tribute album by a group of British bop enthusiasts rather than the Horace Silver originals it's devoted to? After all, Blue Note records' retrospective multi-disc set offers plenty of the same music with the bonus of illustrious sidemen including Joe Henderson, Art Farmer, JJ Johnson and the Breckers.

The answer is that it depends on where you're hearing it from. If you're a Horace Silver obsessive (and since the Connecticut-born piano legend virtually invented jazz-funk in the 1950s, there's pretty good reason to be) without much interest in the current UK jazz scene, those old Blue Notes are probably all the pieces of Silver you need. And from the angle of the non-specialised, contemporary-music listener, this set doesn't represent a radical deconstruction or reappraisal of famous themes either, of the kind of ambitious sweep Uri Caine or Don Byron might make.

But if British sax virtuoso Alan Barnes has offered Horace Silver's work a simpler tribute, he has in the process unerringly caught the most infectious qualities of the originals - spirited good humour, earthy bluesiness and occasionally exquisite romantic delicacy. Silver was a key architect of that unsentimentally soulful offspring of 1940s modern jazz known in the following decade as hard bop - a brisk splicing of bebop's convoluted, linear, jazz-baroque phrasing and gospel music's rhythms and vocalised sounds, which rescued the music from an audience of inner-sanctum buffs and widened its appeal. Alan Barnes, with a fine band including trumpeter Steve Waterman and pianist John Donaldson (who transcribed all the tunes from the original discs), has clearly understood the secrets of that process remarkably well.

The title track here is also the opener and a typical piece of fizzing Horace Silver vivacity - a snaking bebop line with a variety of quizzical and effusive melodic asides. Steve Waterman plays a raw and brassy solo on it, followed by Barnes in Charlie Parker mode on alto sax, squirming through the chords at high speed, constantly pitching bold new melodic motifs to redirect the improvisation. Here and all through the set, Donaldson pays his respects to Silver's clanging, chord-vamping piano style without caricature, and Dave Green and Steve Brown make the ideal quietly assertive bass and drums partnership for the idiom. Tokyo Blues is a minimalist blues lick with a gruff resolving phrase turning into a mid-tempo Latin groove, and Barnes' handling of two ballads - Lonely Woman and the celebrated Peace - is absolutely exquisite, his sax-sound becoming almost indistinguishable from the tremor of a clarinet. Cape Verdean Blues is a raucous rhumba, the famous bop-blues Opus de Funk gets a smoothly unfolding, Cool School alto solo from Barnes (perhaps his most ingenious on the set) against Green's warm bass sound, and Se–or Blues displays the appropriately bright and brassy horn sound for its punchy melody. Horace Silver fans will appreciate such an expertly devoted tribute, and Alan Barnes' many admirers might well regard this as one of the best recorded displays of his faultless virtuosity.

John Fordham Guardian

Alan Barnes is usually tagged with the rather unglamorous term 'mainstream'. True, you're unlikely to find him hanging out with Norwegian experimentalists, string quartets or DJs, issuing an album of Radiohead cover versions or rediscovering the joys of punk rock, but there's plenty of other people doing that kind of thing these days...

Like Peter King, Barnes is steeped in the language of bop, but is such a consummate stylist that his playing tends to buck any argument that his musical approac his conservative or out of step with the times. Whether on alto, baritone or tenor, Barnes' melodic sense bypasses the usual scale-running cliches that pepper the playing of lesser bop disciples.

Here Barnes pays tribute to hard bop pianist/composer Horace Silver. Pianist John Donaldson has transcribed all the pieces, which are mainly taken from the classic Blue Note quintet recordings of the early 60s. Donaldson's crisply funky playing is a neat fit with Silver's soulful, airy tunes, but his occasional Tyner-esque splashes take the energy level up a notch. Trumpeter Steve Waterman (an eclectic, technically assured player)takes the Blue Mitchell role with relish. Fat-toned, precise and fiery, he's a perfect foil for the leader.

While there are only two ballads here, they provide Barnes' best moments. Donaldson's lucid, Bill Evans-esque chording inspires a sweetly poignant reading of "Lonely Woman", while the opening of "Peace" features a meltingly gorgeous statement on alto, accompanied only by Dave Green's ever thoughtful bass. One of my favourite musical moments of the year so far, I reckon.

Not that the uptempo numbers are in any way shabby; the band kick up some serious dust at times and of course Barnes enjoys working at speed - check the furious solo on "Finger Poppin'" for details. This is assured,beautifully played jazz. It won't change the world, perhaps, but who cares.

Peter Marsh BBC Jazz Review

Latest News

JULY 2008

16th
British Standard Time with Chris Biscoe
Start 8pm
Leasowes Bank Farm
Ratlinghope, Shropshire SY5 0SW
More Info: 01743 790 769

17th
Wigan Jazz Festival
10am Seminar
1-3pm Liquorice Stick Allsorts
Wigan Cricket Club
Parsons Walk
Wigan, WN1 1RU
01942 241581

18th
With the Laurie Holloway Trio
The Arts Festival at The Townley Hall, Fulbourne
Ticket info www.fulbournarts.org or 01223 880778/880793.

19th Jazz On A Summer’s Day
Featuring Roy Williams, Andy Wood and the David Newton Trio with appearances from John Dankworth and Alan Barnes.
11:30am £11 in advance, £12 on the door
Venue: Old Rectory Garden
The Stables Theatre Ltd
Stockwell Lane
Wavendon
Milton Keynes
MK17 8LU

19th
Sax Supremos
John Dankworth, Andy Panayi, Alan Barnes, Frank
Griffith, Jimmy Hastings with Dave Newton (Piano)
Andy Cleyndert (Bass) Steve Brown (Drums)
2:30pm £12
Venue as above

19th
Gala Night – with Fireworks & The Chamber Ensemble of London
Director / Solo Violin: Peter Fisher
Hosted by: John Dankworth and Alan Barnes
7.30pm £17.50
Venue as above

20th
Final Festive Flourish – The Gardener’s Big Band
Leader Andy Panayi, under the command of
John Dankworth, Mark Nightingale.
12:00pm £15
Venue as above

22nd
Medway Jazz Society

24th
‘The Miles Davis Influence’
Alan Barnes – saxophone
John Horler – piano
THE DYSART ARMS
135 Petersham Road
Richmond
Surrey
TW10 7AA
020 8940 8005
enquiries@thedysartarms.co.uk

28th
Alan Barnes Septet For Duke
Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival
The Spiegeltent
George Square
Edinburgh, EH8 9LD
Phone: 0131 555 6966
21:00 – £12

29th-31st
Teaching
7th Dordogne International Jazz Summer School
www.jazzschool-dordogne.co.uk/

AUGUST

1st
Spontaneous Combustion -12 noon
Andy Cleyndert Bass
David Newton Piano
Royal Albert Hall

1st
With the Phil DeGreg Trio
8pm
Telegraph Inn, Putney Heath, London, SW15 3TU

3rd
Guestspot with Dan Shepherd Trio
1-3pm
Brighton

4th-8th
Teaching
Rock School
The Dome
Brighton

7th
Jazz at the Boathouse
Hosted by Broxbourne Rowing Club, Old Nazeing Road, Broxbourne
EN10 6QU
Doors open 7.30pm. Music 8pm
Telephone: 01992 442263

9th
Don Weller Big Band
Brecon Jazz Festival
Event 10. Saturday 09 August 1:00 PM
Venue: Theatr Brycheiniog Price: £14.50 (GBP)

9th
Brecon Jazz Festival
18.00 18.45 Theatr Brycheiniog Studio Echos of Ellington Dave Newton & Alan Barnes (Set 1)
19.15 20.00 Theatr Brycheiniog Studio Echos of Ellington Dave Newton & Alan Barnes (Set 2)

12th
Alan Barnes & Dave Newton
The Rhythm Station
Station House
New Hall Hey Road
Rawtenstall
BB4 6AJ
8.30pm
booking tel 01706 214039

15th
Bakewell Arts Festival
Friday 15 August • Piedaniel’s Restaurant, Bath Street • 6.30pm for 7pm • £45 to include gourmet dinner • Tickets (which are to be paid for when booked) available from Andy Littler on 07785 520674 or via the BAF Hotline

17th-23rd
Teaching
The MEhr Clef Summer Jazz Courses are residential courses held at Digby Stuart College, Roehampton University, London.
FOR MUSICIANS AGED 18+ (NO UPPER AGE LIMIT)
www.mehrclef.com

18th
With the Tevor Tomkins Trio
8.30
Coach & Horses Isleworth
183 London Rd, Middx, TW7 5BQ

19th
With Judy Carmichael
10pm
Boisdales
15 Eccleston Street
Belgravia
SW1W 9LX
Tel: 020 7730 6922
info@boisdale.co.uk

20th Boisdales
(as the 19th)

21st
Tutors Concert
7.30
Digby Stuart College, Roehampton University, London.

22nd
Boisdales
(as the 19th)

23rd
Boisdales
(as the 19th)

24th
Keith Nichols Band
12-2.30pm
8-11pm
Bude Jazz Festival

25th
Octupal Odyssey
3-5.30pm
8-11pm With The John Hallam Quartet
Bude Jazz Festival

26th-30th
Teaching
The MEhr Clef Summer Jazz Courses are residential courses held at Digby Stuart College, Roehampton University, London
FOR MUSICIANS AGED 21 AND UNDER (MINIMUM AGE 14)
www.mehrclef.com

28th
Evening
Maida Vale Studios
public recording
Tribute to Allan Ganley

31st
12.15-2.30
Merlins Cave
The Village Green
Chalfont St. Giles
HP8 4QF
Tel: 01494 875101

SEPTEMBER

4th
Guesting with Hugh Ockendon Trio
20:30 – 11:00
Birchwood Park Golf Centre
Birchwood Road, Wilmington Kent DA2 7HJ
Sidcup
DA2 7HJ
Telephone: 020 8325 3999
Email: Marion200@ntlworld.com

6th
Liquorice-Stick All Sorts
10.15-11-30pm
Cleethorpes Jazz Weekend
Cleethorpes Beachcomber
208 North Sea Lane
Cleethorpes
Tel: 01472812666

7th
Alan Barnes Septet
6.30pm
Pontypool Jazz Festival
Newport

12th