Fricke's Picks: Horace Silver

Fine Silver In the Fifties and Sixties, pianist Horace Silver brought a Latin sway and cocksure funk to hard-bop jazz, first with the historic Jazz Messengers, then as a leader and composer of standards such as "Señor Blues" and "Song for My Father." Live at Newport '58 (Blue Note) is a surprise from Silver's early prime, a previously unreleased set of Silver leading a quintet in dynamic expansions of four tunes, including the cool brass glide and staccato-piano bite of "Señor Blues."