Room 608

Hank Mobley (tenor sax), Kenny Dorham (trumpet), Horace Silver (piano), Doug Watkins (bass) and Art Blakey (drums). From the album Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers (1956).

In 1954, pianist Horace Silver teamed up with drummer Art Blakey to form a band that combined the energy and virtuosity of bebop with the medium tempos and feeling of blues and gospel. The result was what was called hard bop and the group was called Jazz Messengers, which Blakey led for the rest of his career. Some of its songs have become standard and sung in vocalese style by Jon Hendriks.

Particularly successful was the song “The Preacher”, which was almost rejected by producer Alfred Lion, who thought it sounded old-fashioned, but changed his mind when Silver and Blakey threatened to stop the recording session until they had composed another theme to replace it. Silver composed all the songs except “Hankerin”, which was written by Mobley.

After a brief introduction, the theme starts at full speed. The first one to make his solo is Dorham, who fits in perfectly with the walking and occasionally introduces faster phrases. His inventiveness is enviable. Next comes Silver with simple but efficient sentences. Then there is a brief dialogue between Mobley and Dorham on the one hand and Silver on the other, followed by Mobley’s solo with a very gospel-influenced dialogue. Then it’s Blakey’s turn, who hits the drums very quickly. At last, comes the re-exposure of the theme.