"Song for My Father" Horace Silver (Blue Note, 1965)

THE soulful gentleman with the straw hat and cigar on the cover of this album is John Tavares Silver, to whom the title tune was bilingually dedicated (in English and Portuguese) "My mother was of Irish and Negro descent, my father of Portuguese origin, my father" says Horace. "He was born on the island of Maio, one of the Cape Verde Islands, but he came to this country when he was a young man." (...) 

I do not know John Tavares Silver, but hope we will meet. It would be a pleasure to know the man to whom this album is dedicated. He must be a proud man — not merely proud of the dedication, but of a gifted son who is respected by thousands of friends and admirers all over the world.

Album notes by Leonard Feather
Cover photo of John Tavares Silver by Francis Wolff
Cover design by Reid Miles

R.I.P. Horace Silver 

(September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014)