BLP 4277

Horace Silver - Serenade to a Soul Sister

Released - June 1968

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, February 23, 1968
Charles Tolliver, trumpet; Stanley Turrentine, tenor sax; Horace Silver, piano; Bob Cranshaw, bass, electric bass; Mickey Roker, drums.

2049 tk.5 Serenade To A Soul Sister
2050 tk.10 Psychedelic Sally
2051 tk.20 Rain Dance

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, March 29, 1968
Charles Tolliver, trumpet #1,2; Bennie Maupin, tenor sax #1,2; Horace Silver, piano; John Williams, bass; Billy Cobham, drums.

2081 Kindred Spirits
2082 Jungle Juice
2083 Next Time I Fall In Love

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Psychedelic Sally	Horace Silver	February 23 1968
Serenade to a Soul Sister	Horace Silver	February 23 1968
Rain Dance	Horace Silver	February 23 1968
Side Two
Jungle Juice	Horace Silver	March 29 1968
Kindred Spirits	Horace Silver	March 29 1968
Next Time I Fall in Love	Horace Silver	March 29 1968

Liner Notes

The theme of this record is love. Here you will find love music played by a group of musicians who have a certain empathy and love for each other and for people. From the music right down to the LP cover and the liner notes, this is my production. The only thing I haven't supervised is the pressing of this record which I leave in the capable hands of Blue Note. Rather than go into who played what solo on what track and how they played it, I would prefer to comment on the musicians first and then explain a little something about the compositions.

This recording was done in two sessions. The first session included Stanley Turrentine, Charles Tolliver, Bob Cranshaw, and Mickey Roker. The songs recorded were "Psychedelic Sally," "Serenade to a Soul Sister," and "Rain Dance." Stanley Turrentine is a giant on his instrument and the epitome of soul. It was a ball having him on the date. Charles Tolliver is one of the jazz world's fine young trumpeters. Bob Cranshaw, who I call Mr. Instant Copp — because he not only plays so well but learns so fast, and was a great asset to the date. Mickey Roker might also be called Mr. Instant Copp because he catches on so fast and gives you just what you want.

The second session features my new present-day group: Charles Tolliver, Bennie Maupin, John Williams, and Billy Cobham. The songs recorded were "Jungle Juice," "Kindred Spirits," and "Next Time I Fall in Love." Charles Tolliver, although a young man, has been on the scene awhile. He's a wailer and very well-rounded in his scope. Benny Maupin is coming into his own now, He's been making quite a few records with various leaders and also is a wailer and well-rounded in scope. John Williams — not too long out of the Armed Forces — is a fine bassist and a very studious musician of great talent and great promise. Billy Cobham — also not long out of the Armed Forces —- is a budding young talent to be watched. I owe a debt of thanks to my good friend and fellow musician, Weldon Irvine, for turning me on to both John and Billy. All in all, I'm having a ball working with these guys, and as a group we all are having a great deal of fun.

PSYCHEDELIC SALLY
Before writing the tune itself, the title popped into my mind. I suppose it was because I am very fond of the Psychedelic or Mod look in clothing that the girls are wearing today. I think it's a gas and they look great in them. The title, I thought was catchy and I later came up with a melody to fit it. After recording the tune, a lyric seemed to present itself to me, so I'm including it here. It tells a story of today.

lyrics by Horace Silver

Psychedelic Sally, with your
painted face
Psychedelic Sally, you're my
savin' grace
Psychedelic Sally, give your soul
some time
Woh
meditate and save your mind.
Psychedelic Sally, with a tainted view
Psychedelic Sally, I'm in love with you
Psychedelic Sally, what you
searchin' for
Woh
find the key unlock the door.
Wanderin' round from town to town
Don 't you know how the deal
go down.
Waitin' for your lucky break to come.
Livin' life from hand to hand
Passin' round from man to man
'Fore you know — your feelin's will
be numb.
Psychedelic Sally, don't you want
to know
Psychedelic Sally, how I love you so
Psychedelic Sally, give yourself
a chance
Woh —
come on here and find
romance.

SERENADE TO A SOUL SISTER
The term "Soul Sister" as applied here refers to no particular ethnic group but to all my sisters throughout this universe with an abundance of soul or inner depth. In particular I dedicate this tune to one who in my estimation is the greatest "Soul Sister"
— My Mother.

RAIN DANCE .
"Rain Dance" is my interpretation of some American Indians doing a tribal dance around the campfire praying for rain. I dedicate this tune to my good friend, Mrs. Kayah Bradley, who is a Cherokee Indian.

JUNGLE JUICE .
To my ears this tune suggests something primitive and at the same time something humorous, so in coming up with a title, I also came up with lyrics I think have these two qualities. I'm including them here. I would like to dedicate this composition to three very good friends of mine: Him, Mac, and Ken.

lyrics by Horace Silver

(Rhythm Vamp) —
Big chief got his head bad, drinkin'
jungle juice
Big chief Feelin' so sad, woman on
the loose
Woman on the loose.

(Rhythm Vamp) —
She caught him a cheatin' with some
other goose
Big chief got his head bad, drinkin'
jungle juice
Drinkin' jungle juice.

(Rhythm Vamp) —
Oh, how he miss her
Heart beat, sometime he no eat
Life doesn't seem sweet
When he's without her

(Rhythm Vamp) —
Big chief say he sorry, then they
make a truce
Now they both are happy, drinking
jungle iuice
Drinkin' jungle iuice.

(Rhythm Vamp) —

KINDRED SPIRITS .
This tune is specifically dedicated to my brothers — John, Gene, and Marcel. It is also dedicated to my good friend, Dr. Dwight E. Hamilton, but in a broad sense it is dedicated to everyone, since We are all "Kindred Spirits".

NEXT TIME I FALL IN LOVE .
This is a composition I wrote about five or six years ago but never got around to recording it before, for one reason or another. My very good friend and fellow composer, Ronnell Bright, wrote the words to this one for me. It's a ballad and features the trio. The lyrics are included here.

lyrics by Horace Silver
Is-nit it swell when you're in love?
Is-nit it great those stars above?
Would-nit I know I'm wait-ing for the
next time I fall in love.

Does-nit it make you feel a-live?
Does-nit it make you sat-is-fied?
Should-nit I know I'm wait-ing for the
next time I fall in love.

To love and be loved makes the air
feel like spring.
Love and be loved; that's everything.

When you're a-lone there's great
dis-pair.
Af-ter you've had your love af-fair.
Sure-ly I know I'm waiting for the
next time I fall in love, next time I fall
in love.

MY PERSONAL GUIDELINES TO MUSICAL COMPOSITION
These guidelines are my own personal ones and I by no means mean to infer that they be used by anyone other than myself, but rather that everyone find their own guidelines. While note-taking these for my own personal reference, it struck me that including these in my liner notes for this LP might give the listener a greater understanding of my music.

1. Technical Conveyances
A. Melodic Beauty
B. Meaningful Simplicity
C. Harmonic Beauty
D. Rhythm
E. Environmental, Hereditary,
Regional, and Spiritual Influences

2. Emotional Conveyances
A. Happiness (to laugh, to sing, to dance, peace, beauty, love, tranquility, joy, etc.)
B. Sadness (to cry, to be nostalgic, to be melancholy)
C. Soulfulness or Inner Depth
D. Emotional Intellectuality

MY PERSONAL DO NOTS OF MUSIC COMPOSITION
I personally do not believe in politics, hatred, or anger in my musical composition. I believe musical composition should convey healthy emotions. Musical composition should give something to people, not detract from them. Music composition should possibly give them an emotion that they've never had or perhaps one that they've lost and would like to recapture if only for the moment. Music composition should bring happiness and joy to people and make them forget their troubles, and perhaps in that joy and happiness there might be strength to help them overcome them.

Well, here is our labor of love, and on behalf of the fellows and myself, we sincerely hope you enjoy it.

Yours in Music,
Horace Silver

RVG CD Reissue Liner Notes

A NEW LOOK AT SERENADE TO A SOUL SISTER

Artistically, Horace Silver is conservative by nature. He never has sought change for its own sake, but has refined approaches and situations that best reflected his soulful, optimistic outlook on music and life. For the first decade after he began leading his own ensemble, he stayed with not only proven musical forms, but also a proven instrumentation and, for long stretches, the same sidemen. Yet, given his inherent creativity and the volatile nature of the jazz business, Silver's approach could not help but evolve, however incrementally. Serenade to a Soul Sister, from 1968, found Silver opening himself and his music to change on a variety of levels.

Beginning with the purely musical, this album finds Silver gaining increasing confidence in time signatures other than 4/4. After including "Pretty Eyes," his first original in triple meter, on The Cape Verdean Blues (recorded in 1965), the subsequent Jody Grind album had featured two waltzes, "Mexican Hip Dance" and "Dimples." This time around, half of the music employs odd tempos, with the title track and "Rain Dance" in 3 and, most striking of all, "Jungle Juice" moving between a main stanza in 5 and a bridge in 6. "Rain Dance" also extends what some might now call Silver's world music interests beyond his previous Latin, Japanese, and Cape Verdean allusions, to address American Indian sources, an area he would investigate more fully on his 1977 opus Silver 'n Percussion.

Silver's personnel choices also find him beginning to move away from an exclusive focus on his working group for recording projects. It is not so much a matter of Stanley Turrentine's presence, which extends the guest star trend that found J. J. Johnson on Cape Verdean Blues and James Spaulding on Jody Grind, as the employment of rhythm section freelancers Bob Cranshaw and Mickey Roker rather than the pianist's own regular bassist and drummer on half of the tracks. By the time Silver began his United States of Mind trilogy two years later, Cranshaw (now on electric bass) and Roker had become the pianist's studio mainstays. This trend of employing a first-call rhythm team rather than touring accompanists for album projects extended into the '70s, when Ron Carter and Al Foster became Silver's rhythm section of choice. This did not mean that Silver stopped featuring deserving young talent on the road, as the quintet on the final three tracks makes clear. With the exception of Charles Tolliver, who had given way to Randy Brecker, that unit was still around in 1969 for Silver's next album, You Gotta Take a Little Love. Note also that the present cover photo was shot by Billy Cobham, which places him in the drummer/shutterbug tradition of Stan Levey.

Perhaps the most significant change that Serenade to a Soul Sister portends is the new didactic strain in Silver's music. Where the composer/pianist had previously been associated with earthiness (and even a bit of raunchiness in titles like "Filthy McNasty" and "The Jody Grind"), he was now into self-improvement, and was determined that his listeners not miss the point. This was the first of several albums on which Silver wrote his own liner notes, the first to include lyrics to several of the compositions (vocals would follow shortly), and the first to place such great stress on personal philosophy. In part, this was an embrace of the emerging late-'60s zeitgeist, with its emphasis on meditation, organic foods, and the brotherhood of all people; in part it was also a rejection of the more radical agendas of contemporary musicians associated with free jazz. Silver's rejection of "politics, hatred [and] anger" in his music and his emphasis on joy and uplift could not be more plainly stated, and would only grow over the course of the next decade. Many felt that this proselytizing trivialized Silver's output, preferring "The Preacher" of Silver's Jazz Messenger days to the preacher he himself became. There is no question that Silver's talents as a lyricist did not measure up to those he possessed as a composer, and that several of his superior melodies were done in by questionable words ("How Much Does Matter Really Matter?" from the 1972 All being a primary example). Here, and for at least his next album, the lyrics were still confined to the liner notes, and the strength of the music came through unimpeded.

— Bob Blumenthal, 2003