Patrick Forge's Podcast

Horace Silver, an earthy man who made spiritual music and a spiritual man who made earthy music. It's impossible to conceive of the Blue Note label without the contribution of Silver, he's pivotal, essential, inspirational; the lynchpin of the legacy, the godfather of the dynasty. From his pioneering hard-bop beginnings, through his definitive sixties soul-jazz masterpieces to his much misunderstood seventies output. Horace Silver is the tree, the jazz tree, the firm roots, the splaying branches, the foliage that changes with the seasons, he is the gateway, the conduit, the welcoming voice, the musician who exemplified all that was great about jazz, seeking, exploring and soulful, yet never alienating or obtuse, always humble and giving. I swerved a couple of obvious choices in this selection, particularly the tune for which Horace is best known, the mighty, magnificent "Song For My Father". Not because I don't care for it, or that I've tired of it, on the contrary; in fact when my own father passed away I