Song for My Father

Joe Henderson (tenor sax), Carmell Jones (trumpet), Horace Silver (piano), Teddy Smith (bass) and Roger Humphries (drums). From the album Song for My Father (1965).

The hard bop style forced musicians become composers as well. Instead of playing standards and tunes from other groups, they had to create their own themes to record their albums. They could be simple arrangements or long sections for wind instruments, but in any case the content and the energy were preferred. As a child, Silver listened his father play Cape Verde music on violin or guitar.

In 1964, Silver toured Brazil where he heard bossa nova, which was in fashion at the time. Then, he remembered that his father always told him to make jazz from those Portuguese songs, so he decided to write a theme combining the Cape Verdean melodies with the sound of bossa nova. So he dedicated it to his father and put a picture of him on the album cover.

The theme begins with a rhythm between Caribbean and Brazilian. It’s a curious and difficult mixture to classify. Silver begins making his solo with simple melodies and resourceful moderation, as if he were in no hurry. Then Henderson enters calmly making well measured phrases, but then he gets excited and makes a more dynamic and passionate discourse. When he has finished what he had to say, his volume slowly decreases, giving way to the re-exposure of the theme.