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Photo by Janette Beckman
Louis Hayes Pays Homage to Horace Silver on 'Serenade for Horace,' His Blue Note Debut Louis Hayes at Systems Two, Brooklyn. November, 2016. Photo by GULNARA KHAMATOVA Louis Hayes has logged his share of session hours for Blue Note Records, as the impeccably swinging drummer for label stalwarts like Grant Green, Curtis Fuller and, indelibly, Horace Silver. Now comes his turn in the driver's seat: Hayes will make his Blue Note debut as a leader with Serenade for Horace, due out in May. As that title suggests, the album is a tribute to Silver, the pianist and composer with whom Hayes first made his name during the mid-to-late 1950s. He was all of 18, a recent transplant to New York City from his native Detroit, when he joined the Horace Silver Quintet -- first appearing on the 1957 album 6 Pieces of Silver, which yielded a hit single, "Señor Blues." Hayes went on to back Silver at the 1958 and '59 Newport Jazz Festivals, and provide the rhythmic fire on classic albums like Further Explorations by the Horace Silver Quintet ('58), Finger Poppin' with the Horace Silver Quintet ('59) and Blowin' the Blues Away ('59). This was a period of unsurpassed excellence for hard-bop, in terms of both artistic standards and commercial appeal. Hayes stayed at the center of the movement even after leaving Silver. Continue Reading at wbgo.org >> | ||||||
