The Tokyo Blues [Blue Note Tone Poet Edition] [180g LP]

by Horace Silver Quintet, Horace Silver

Overview

Following a series of concert dates in Tokyo late in 1961 with his quintet, Horace Silver returned to the U.S. with his head full of the Japanese melodies he had heard during his visit, and using those as a springboard, he wrote four new pieces, which he then recorded at sessions held on July 13 and 14, 1962, along with a version of Ronnell Bright's little known ballad "Cherry Blossom." One would naturally assume the resulting LP would have a Japanese feel, but that really isn't the case. Using Latin rhythms and the blues as a base, Silver's Tokyo-influenced compositions fit right in with the subtle cross-cultural but very American hard bop he'd been doing all along. Using his usual quintet (Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Junior Cook on tenor sax, Gene Taylor on bass) with drummer Joe Harris (he is listed as John Harris, Jr. for this set) filling in for an ailing Roy Brooks), Silver's compositions have a light, airy feel, with plenty of space, and no one used that space better at these sessions than Cook, whose tenor sax lines are simply wonderful, adding a sturdy, reliable brightness. The centerpieces are the two straight blues, "Sayonara Blues" and "The Tokyo Blues," both of which have a delightfully natural flow, and the building, patient take on Bright's "Cherry Blossom," which Silver takes pains to make sure sounds like a ballad and not a barely restrained minor-key romp. The bottom line is that The Tokyo Blues emerges as a fairly typical Silver set from the era and not as a grandiose fusion experiment welding hard bop to Japanese melodies. That might have been interesting, certainly, but Silver obviously assimilated things down to a deeper level before he wrote these pieces, and they feel like a natural extension of his work rather than an experimental detour. ~ Steve Leggett

Product Details

Release Date:	08/01/2025
Label:	Blue Note Records
UPC:	0602455716071

Tracks

1. Too Much Sake
2. Sayonara Blues
3. The Tokyo Blues
4. Cherry Blossom
5. Ah! So

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Horace Silver   Primary Artist,Piano
Horace Silver Quintet   Primary Artist
Blue Mitchell   Guest Artist,Trumpet
Junior Cook   Sax (Tenor)
John Harris   Drums
Gene Taylor   Bass
Joe Harris   Drums

Technical Credits

Francis Wolff   Photography,Cover Photo
Horace Silver   Composer
Ronnell Bright   Composer
Rudy Van Gelder   Engineer,Remastering
Michael Cuscuna   Reissue Producer
Alfred Lion   Producer
Patrick Roques   Redesign
Reid Miles   Cover Design
Atsuhiko Kawabata   Liner Notes,Original Liner Notes
Amanda Wray   Reissue Design
Gordon H. Jee   Reissue Director
Bob Blumenthal   Liner Notes