Horace Silver Loses that Healin' Feelin'

The fact that Horace Silver looks like a fortune teller on the cover of his 1970, Blue Note released album That Healin’ Feelin’ doesn’t bode well for the disc’s listening audience. Yep, it’s still unfair to judge a book by its cover and all, but seriously, Silver looks like a grandmother getting’ all gussied up for a hot date.

ZING!

Anyway, this is not an acoustic date for the pianist and band leader. That alone might make one think that avoiding the disc is the way to go. And while that’s not a view point that can easily be dispatched, there’re a few redeeming moments on That Healin’ Feelin’. Just as a warning, though, there’s no reason to ever purchase or download this disc despite those momentary musical highlights. Really.

The album’s title track is really one of the stronger moments represented here even if it comes off like dinner music that folks who were under the impression that they were cool would listen to. It’s not too much better than the bossa nova that the group works out on “Love Vibrations.” But surrounded by some upper echelon players doesn’t hurt too much – Idris Muhammad gets behind the drum set and Houston Person blows tenor sax. Nothing can save this entire mess though.

The unfortunate vocal pieces on the first half of the disc - “The Happy Medium,” “Peace” and “The Show Has Begun” – are features for Andy Bey, who may have contributed something useful if he’d only worked in some keys alongside the date leader – but no luck there. The singer’s first feature, “The Happy Medium,” isn’t too exciting in the first place as Silver sounds as if he and his group are trucking in small combo swing music, but Bey’s vocals just make it all that much worse.

Some soul jazz works to the betterment of the disc. That being said, it’s not the top tier stuff. “Permit Me to Introduce You to Yourself” sports a vocal and fortunately it’s not Bey. The track represents the best integration of Silver’s disparate ideas. There’s some jazz and funk in there as well as a prominently featured vocalist. Of course, Houston Person’s solos don’t ever hurt - Silver’s even able to get off a few bars himself. The only quality lacking is some overt politicism. But since the lyrics focus on working on oneself, it’s all just gravy.

The following tracks work to varying degrees – but again as Bey is absent from these offerings, each is at least listenable. And really Nelson’s and Verdell’s vocals are just short of copping a Nina Simone thing here.

Seeing as the entire ordeal is a let down, at least the second half of the disc comes off as something passable. Regardless of all that, though, Silver is and always will be renowned for that one song – you know what it is. And really, in the grand scheme of things, “Song for My Father” is all that he really needs, ‘cause it’s certainly not this schlock.