Horace Silver Quintet: Horace Silver (piano); Junior Cook (tenor saxophone); Blue Mitchell (trumpet); Gene Taylor (piano); Roy Brooks (drums).
Producer: Alfred Lion.
Reissue producer: Michael Cuscuna.
Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on May 7 & 8, 1963. Orginally released on Blue Note (84131). Includes liner notes by Joel Dorn.
Digitally remastered using 20-bit technology by Ron McMaster.
This classic Blue Note date finds Horace Silver, the quintessential hard bop pianist, in a straight-ahead, swinging frame of mind. Supported by a quintet that features trumpeter Blue Mitchell and saxophonist Junior Cook on the front line, Silver sachets his way through five finely crafted numbers with the style and grace of, well, fine silver.
From the lightly bouncing title track that opens SERENADE to the barn-burner that closes the album ("Nineteen Bars"), the group shines with tight ensemble work and confident solos. Silver's trademark bluesy piano style shines on the hard swinging "Let's Get To The Nitty Gritty," which also features a tight shuffle groove by drummer Roy Brooks. Of special note is Silver's often-overlooked classic "The Dragon Lady," a complex composition with a personality all its own. In short, this is one disc that should not be left off the true hard bop fan's wish list.