Horace Silver
Piano Solo on
The Natives Are Restless Tonight

About

Horace Silver's nine-chorus piano solo is the third of five solos on this high-velocity Silver original, and the longest individual statement on the track. At 288 BPM over the 12-bar form in G minor, Silver's characteristically funky, blues-drenched improvisation drives the music forward with irresistible momentum. His percussive left-hand comping and right-hand melodic invention demonstrate the rhythmic vitality that made his piano style one of the most influential in hard bop. Nine choruses give Silver ample room to develop the kind of thematic, motivic improvisation at which his bands excelled.

Horace Silver was 35 to 36 years old at the time.