Piano vs Organ: Songs For My Father Posted by independent j

Song For My Father - Horace Silver from the album Song For My Father on Blue Note (1964) Song For My Father - Richard "Groove" Holmes from the album Soul Message on Prestige (1965). I love jazz and have been loving it for a while now (about as long as one my age can), but still despite a real penchant for hoarding music there are some definitive classic albums that I have only recent discovered for myself. Horace Silver's Song For My Father is one of these new/old treats for me. Silver is a great composer and this album is top to bottom wonderful even if it isn't as cohesive as some of his other albums. The title song is probably familiar to anyone who hasn't been in a radio, television, movie, and internet free cave for the last 20 years. Dually inspired by Horace's father's Portuguese heritage and a trip to Brazil that introduced he (Horace) to the traditional bossa nova sound, "Song For My Father" is bouncey beauty and elegance all over. Silver's piano solo trips around the tune like a dream, and the horn section (Joe Henderson on tenor sax and Carmell Jones on trumpet) give a huge, joyful feel to the track. The rhythm section won't knock anyone's socks off, but they keep everything in the pocket to allow the solo-ists ample room for freedom. I love covers, but sometimes you wonder why anyone would cover particular songs. Yet just a year after it originally came out organist Richard "Groove" Holmes covered "Song For My Father" in a trio setting (with drums and guitar). "Song" strikes me as so unique a track and with a really personal dedication, but I guess folks cover "Naima" all the time too. Holmes does manage a very different feel with his version as the bossa influence for Silver ends up coming out of the organ lines sounding more like boogaloo (which seems to be blowing up again to samplers and retro reissue folks). I think it is interesting that (especially early on) organists in jazz tended to work alongside guitarists, which in this case leaves "Song" sounding a little flat. The lack of brass in particular hurts this cover. Still on the jazz organ scene, Holmes could really move and his speedy technique is on display here. One of the few organists who didn't convert over from piano, Holmes was involved in the mid-60s wave of jazzmen (and jazzwomen) who left behind the R&B oriented use of the organ and pushed it to the front as a leader for more soulful and intricate work. As an added note both of these tracks are from the wide-ranging Rudy Van Gelder remastering series.