Why this tune?
Horace Silver’s classic “Song For My Father” was inspired by the rhythms of Brazil and the melodies Silver heard from his Cape Verdean father when he was growing up. I’m dedicating this version to my father Mel (z”l), who would have turned 97 this week (Aug. 16)
Thanks to my father, we grew up with the sounds of the African-American music we call jazz.
Pa was never a professional musician, but played trumpet (and other brass instruments) for most of his life. As a young man in Boston, he spent plenty of time in the city’s jazz clubs and had close friends among the jazz musicians on the Boston scene.
He ensured that my brother and I both learned to play music from a young age. I’m still playing the piano I started studying on when I was 7 years old, a Yamaha upright my parents acquired in 1969.
I’m grateful to Pa for passing on his love of music, and remember him often at gigs.
Watch the story
Check it out!
Complete track
Horace Silver
Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter 