Song for My Father

Recognising the opening bass figure does not mean knowing the whole record. Song for My Father moves through six compositions with more than one ensemble, finishing without the trumpet and tenor saxophone that colour much of the programme. Treat the famous title piece as an entrance. The sequence becomes more interesting when the changes of personnel and musical setting become part of what you hear.

The original album appeared in 1965, drawing on recordings from 1963 and 1964. Carmell Jones, Joe Henderson, Teddy Smith and Roger Humphries join Silver on four numbers. Calcutta Cutie uses his previous quintet with Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook, Gene Taylor and Roy Brooks. Taylor and Brooks remain for the closing trio performance. This is therefore neither a single-session portrait nor six performances by one unchanged band.

A dedication with more than one source

Silver recalled returning from Brazil wanting to write with a bossa nova rhythmic idea. The resulting melody also reminded him of the Cape Verdean music associated with his father. Those recollections need not be compressed into a single regional label. Listen first to the relationship between the repeating bass and the readily grasped tune; personal history has produced an unusually inviting musical structure.

Compositions alter the momentum

Calcutta Cutie changes from a slow opening into swing, giving its earlier ensemble a distinct task. That contrast is more useful than ranking the old group against the new one. Later, The Kicker introduces a Henderson composition into a programme otherwise written by Silver. The leader provides a recognisable centre without needing to supply every idea or occupy every foreground position himself.

The ending changes the scale

Lonely Woman leaves the horns behind and concentrates attention on piano, bass and drums. It is Silver’s composition, not Ornette Coleman’s identically titled work. Hear it directly after The Kicker rather than isolating it as a quiet bonus. The reduced ensemble creates an ending with its own weight, broadening a record sometimes remembered principally for the immediate appeal of its first few seconds.