Horace Silver
Piano Solo on
Soulville

About

Horace Silver takes center stage with a full chorus of piano on "Soulville" at approximately 115 BPM, the most extended solo on this intimate blues from The Stylings of Silver. His improvisation over the 44-bar AABA form in B-flat minor epitomizes his approach to slow blues playing: percussive left-hand chords punctuating right-hand lines that draw heavily from gospel and rhythm-and-blues vocabularies. Following brief statements by Hank Mobley and Art Farmer, Silver's full chorus brings the performance to its emotional core. The composition's title perfectly captures its aesthetic, as Silver channels Sunday morning church services and Saturday night juke joints into a sophisticated jazz context.

Horace Silver was 28 to 29 years old at the time.