Song for My Father

Recorded on October 26, 1963 and January 28, 1964 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, the sessions featured the Horace Silver Quintet with Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Junior Cook on tenor saxophone, Gene Taylor on bass, and Roy Brooks on drums, with Silver's piano anchoring the Afro-Latin-influenced composition. Released on Blue Note Records in 1964 as the title track of the album 'Song for My Father', the track became one of Silver's most celebrated compositions, drawing on Cape Verdean and Brazilian musical influences Silver associated with his father's heritage and earning wide critical recognition on release. The track is one of the most sampled recordings in jazz history, most famously providing the piano introduction and bassline for Steely Dan's 'Rikki Don't Lose That Number' in 1974, and it remains a cornerstone of hard bop repertoire performed and studied continuously worldwide.