Without You is a jazz composition by Don Newey, a relatively obscure figure in the jazz composing world. The tune is best known through its inclusion on Horace Silver's 1960 Blue Note album Horace-Scope, where it stands as the sole non-Silver composition on a record otherwise filled entirely with the pianist's originals. Silver's decision to include the piece among his own work suggests he found something genuinely compelling in the writing, lending it a degree of distinction it might not otherwise have achieved. Details about Newey's background and the circumstances of the composition remain scarce, with no known interviews or documentation shedding light on when or why the piece was written, or how it came to Silver's attention. The tune has also appeared in the repertoire of pianist George Winston, who cited it as an influence, and a lead sheet exists in the Carmen McRae collection at the Library of Congress, hinting at possible vocal interpretations. Despite these traces, Without You remains a deep cut in the jazz repertoire rather than a widely performed standard. Its primary significance lies in the context of the Horace-Scope session, where Silver and his quintet gave the composition its definitive and, by all available evidence, essentially its only documented recorded treatment.
