By the summer of 1965, pianist/composer and Blue Note legend Horace Silver was in possession of one of the most popular and famously well-rehearsed small groups in jazz, alongside those of Dave Brubeck, Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Stan Getz and a few more. 

He was also basking in the critical and commercial success of the “Song For My Father” album, whose title track had followed Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” and Lee Morgan’s “The Sidewinder” as a jukebox hit. But August 1965 also saw Silver touring with one of his youngest, most versatile and virtuosic bands: Woody Shaw on trumpet, Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone, Teddy Smith on bass and Roger Humphries on drums.

Henderson of course was a mainstay of the Silver band who had appeared on “Song For My Father”, while Shaw was a 21-year-old tyro with an increasingly fierce reputation who had grown up alongside friend and mentor Eric Dolphy, and who would soon record with Silver on “The Cape Verdean Blues”.

On 12 and 19 August 1965, Silver’s band played at The Penthouse in Seattle, a fondly-remembered club on the ground floor of the Kenneth Hotel, which first opened its doors in 1962. A newly discovered recording of those performances now gets its first-ever release with “Silver In Seattle: Live At The Penthouse”, transferred from original tapes recorded by KING-FM radio host and engineer Jim Wilke and produced for release by Zev Feldman (the extravagant accompanying booklet also features rare photos by Francis Wolff and liner notes by Bob Blumenthal).

There are many riches inside on this great record with excellent sound quality. On the set opener “The Kicker”, the tightness of Silver and Humphries’ stop-and-go riffs is almost criminal. Shaw is not afraid of throwing in some “out” notes and striking “hide and seek” motifs during his fine solo. Henderson too pushes the envelope both melodically and rhythmically during his feature, while Silver drops left-hand bombs throughout, almost reminiscent of one of his piano heroes Thelonious Monk. Also listen for drummer Humphries’ striking triplet figures between the snare, tom-toms and kick drum, apparently a big influence on future kit legend Steve Gadd.

“Song For My Father” is remarkably faithful to the studio version, and possibly even more essential. Humphries lays a luxurious bed for the soloists with his minimalist, behind-the-beat groove, and Henderson sounds like he’s having enormous fun with his vast melodic range and even some Eastern-sounding modes during the breakdown.

The Penthouse audience then got a preview of Silver’s forthcoming Blue Note album with its catchy title track “The Cape Verdean Blues”. It barrels along beautifully, with Humphries’ intricate calypso-style drumming showing subtle variations across different sections. Henderson and Silver’s short solos are exciting and straight to the point.

Shaw shines on the epic 18-minute “Sayonara Blues”, originally from the 1962 album “The Tokyo Blues”, with some strikingly fast passages and a huge melodic range, reminiscent of Freddie Hubbard’s best playing . In the liner notes, Humphries heralded the trumpeter:  “When Woody was playing, we had so much fun together.” It’s audible on this track. The breakneck “No Smokin’” concludes an excellent set of music, originally from the 1957 album “The Stylings Of Silver”, showcasing Silver’s fine horn frontline and featuring a typically slick feature for Humphries towards the close. 

A month after Silver’s appearance, on 30 September 1965, John Coltrane would also play a famous gig at The Penthouse. Sadly the club closed in 1968 and is now a parking lot, but at least we have this superb Silver collection to remember it by. “Live At The Penthouse” is an absolute must for Silver fans as he only released one official live album – 1961’s “Doin’ The Thing” – during his lifetime, and it’s a worthy footnote to a glittering Blue Note career. As Don Was writes in the liner notes: “It’s not out of line to say that Blue Note would not exist today without Horace Silver’s impactful approach to playing, writing and grooving.”

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Matt Phillips is a London-based writer and musician whose work has appeared in Jazzwise, Classic Pop, Record Collector and The Oldie. He’s the author of “John McLaughlin: From Miles & Mahavishnu to the 4th Dimension” and “Level 42: Every Album, Every Song”.

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_{Header image: Horace Silver. Photo: Courtesy of Blue Note Records.}