Filthy McNasty – 1987

Horace Silver (1928-2014) was a major influence as a pianist, composer and bandleader, helping to put soul back into jazz in the 1950s and ‘60s.

While Silver’s best known quintet featured trumpeter Blue Mitchell and tenor-saxophonist Junior Cook, he led a series of top-notch groups in the years that followed.

Here is one of the least-known of the Silver Quintets, a unit from 1987 featuring trumpeter Dave Douglas (who is better known for his avant-garde projects), altoist Vincent Herring, bassist Brian Bromberg, and drummer Carl Burnett plus singer Andy Bey.

Silver only made one album during 1986-90 and it featured a completely different group, so the Douglas-Herring lineup was otherwise undocumented.

On the uptempo blues “Filthy McNasty” from the 1987 Jazzfestival Bern, Bey has two short vocals and there are fine solos from Douglas and Herring but Horace Silver takes honors.

-Scott Yanow