Louis Hayes Makes His Blue Note Debut With May 26 Release Of Serenade For Horace, A Tribute To His Mentor & Friend Horace Silver

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Legendary drummer Louis Hayes will make his Blue Note debut with the May 26th release of Serenade for Horace, a loving tribute to his mentor and friend, the great pianist, composer and bandleader Horace Silver. Hayes was 19 years old when he moved to New York City in 1956 and joined Silver's Quintet, putting his stamp on timeless Blue Note recordings like "Señor Blues, " "Sister Sadie, " and "Blowin' the Blues Away."

"I wanted to do this recording for Horace Silver because I wanted jazz fans to hear his music and I wanted to honor his memory, " writes Hayes in the album's liner notes. "Horace and I always stayed in touch ever since I first worked with him. When he got to the point where he wasn't feeling too well, I went to see him and one day he said to me 'Louis, you're a part of my history.' I thought about what that meant and I began thinking about how to take Horace's music and his legacy into the future."

Hayes will celebrate his 80th birthday next month with album release shows at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center from May 29-31. Co-produced by Blue Note Records President Don Was and bassist Dezron Douglas with the eminent Maxine Gordon acting as executive producer, the album presents Hayes leading an ensemble that includes Douglas, vibraphonist Steve Nelson, pianist David Bryant, tenor saxophonist Abraham Burton, and trumpeter Josh Evans. The band revisits 10 Silver classics in addition to Hayes' new original "Hastings Street, " a dedication to his hometown of Detroit.

Louis Hayes was born in Detroit, Michigan on May 31, 1937, and grew up surrounded by music, first starting his musical studies on piano before his father gave him a set of drums at age 10. After developing his skills in the fertile musical ground of Detroit in the 1950's with the likes of Yusef Lateef and Kenny Burrell, Hayes moved to New York City in 1956 and joined the Horace Silver Quintet. It was as a member of Silver's Quintet from 1956-1959 that Hayes was first introduced to the jazz world as the driving force on classic Blue Note albums including 6 Pieces of Silver, Further Explorations, The Stylings of Silver, Blowin' the Blues Away, and Finger Poppin'. Hayes was a member of Cannonball Adderley's Quintet from 1959-1965, and also had a notable stint with Oscar Peterson from 1965-67. He has recorded with the titans of jazz including John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, and McCoy Tyner, and co-led an influential quintet with Woody Shaw and Junior Cook throughout the 1970s. Beginning with his self-titled debut for Vee-Jay in 1960, Hayes has recorded 18 albums as a leader. Hayes and Silver reunited in 1997 for the recording of the pianist's Impulse album A Prescription for the Blues. Stream the playlist Louis Hayes: Sideman on Apple Music or Spotify to explore his finest Blue Note moments with Silver, Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, Sonny Clark and others.

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