Genre Jazz, hardbop Composer(s) Horace Silver Producer(s) Alfred Lion | Label Blue Note Language English | |
Recorded August 29, 1959. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, U.S. | ||
"Peace" is a composition by Horace Silver. The original version, by Silver's quintet, was recorded on August 29, 1959. It has become a jazz standard. Silver also wrote lyrics for the tune.
Contents
Composition
According to Silver, "I was doodlin' around on the piano, and it just came to me, but I also had the impression that there was an angel standing over me, impressing my mind with this beautiful melody and harmony." Unusually for popular Silver compositions, "Peace" is a slow ballad. It has a ten-bar structure. Ted Gioia observed that "You won't find a single catchy melodic motif here, no surprising interlude, no harmonic shift that takes the piece in an unexpected direction. Instead the soloist cycles through a series of gentle resolving chords, mostly following a familiar ii-V formula, before settling unobtrusively into the tonic key of B flat."
Original recording
The piece was first recorded on August 29, 1959, by the Horace Silver Quintet, of Silver (piano), Junior Cook (tenor saxophone), Blue Mitchell (trumpet), Gene Taylor (bass), and Louis Hayes (drums). It was released as part of the Blue Note Records album Blowin' the Blues Away.
Later versions
"Peace has regularly attracted younger musicians". Silver recorded a version with vocals by Andy Bey on That Healin' Feelin' a decade after the original recording. Versions by other artists include: