Blowin' the Blues Away
Recorded in 1959, this is an early chronicle of one of the finest bands of the hard-bop genre, pianist Silver's classic quintet with trumpeterBlue Mitchell, tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor, and drummer Louis Hayes. The group already epitomized Silver's own virtues of precision and hard swing, with each soloist committed to direct and concise statements, at all times both emotionally and musically focused. There's effective contrast, too, between Mitchell's subtle turn of phrase and Cook's raw intensity, each filling in Silver's vision of a music that combined the complexity of bop and the immediacy of blues and gospel. This session contains the original recordings of two Silver standards, the serene "Peace" and the joyously funky "Sister Sadie," but the collective impact of the band is just as enduring. The group was so musically close-knit that when Silver disbanded five years later, the rest continued as the Blue Mitchell Quintet, with a youngChick Coreaon piano.--Stuart Broomer