The book was interesting, especially for a jazz audience. It is nice to know he was a kindred spirit. He also admired Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry, but did not connect with their style of jazz. I also found it interesting that he although he admired Miles Davis, he did not particularly care for his fusion music. Because jazz musicians were always being ripped off, he warned all musicians who wrote music to publish and copyright all their own material, as he did. They know each musician’s style because they played with or listened to them at one time. It always amazes me that all good jazz musicians know all the other good jazz musicians, and played with most of them. Well in the 1970s I did the same thing on 52nd St to hear Horace Silver. I had to laugh at his commenting that in the 1950s, he would stand at the bar in the jazz clubs on 52nd St (NYC) and listen to the was cheaper than sitting at a table. I had to give this book 4 stars because Horace Silver is one of my favorite musicians. Silver details the economic forces that eventually persuaded him to put Silveto to rest and to return to the studios of major jazz recording labels like Columbia, Impulse, and Verve, where he continued expanding his catalogue of new compositions and recordings that are at least as impressive as his earlier work.
This transformation found its expression in the electronic and vocal music of the three-part work called The United States of Mind and eventually led the musician to start his own record label, Silveto. Let’s Get to the Nitty Gritty also describes Silver’s spiritual awakening in the late 1970s. Most importantly, Silver’s unique take on the music and the people who play it opens a window onto the creative process of jazz and the social and cultural worlds in which it flourishes.
His irrepressible sense of humor combined with his distinctive spirituality make his account both entertaining and inspiring. His stories resonate with lessons learned from hearing and playing alongside such legends as Art Blakey, Charlie Parker, and Lester Young. Well-seasoned with anecdotes about the music, the musicians, and the milieu in which he worked and prospered, Silver’s narrative-like his music-is earthy, vernacular, and intimate. During that time, Silver composed an impressive repertoire of tunes that have become standards and recorded a number of classic albums. This freewheeling autobiography of the great composer, pianist, and bandleader takes us from his childhood in Norwalk, Connecticut, through his rise to fame as a musician in New York, to his comfortable life “after the road” in California. Horace Silver is one of the last giants remaining from the incredible flowering and creative extension of bebop music that became known as "hard bop" in the 1950s.
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