Antoine Silverman
Blue Moods
(Hillsboro – 2001)
Matthew S. Robinson
On his Hillsboro debut, Broadway veteran Antoine Silverman combines the best of that stage with music from other stages in his life and the life of the music he loves. Having played since age three, Silverman has had much time to get his musical act together and, for the most part, the act is worthy of applause.
From Great American songs like Mercer and Arlen’s “Come Rain or Come Shine” and Rodgers and Hart’s “Bewitched” to Horace Silver’s more contemporary conga “Nica’s Dream,” Silverman sweeps and saws his way through a history of popular music, interspersing his own occasionally well-labeled Pale Rider compositions throughout.Along the whinnying way, Duke Ellington gets two tributes through a crystalline cut of “In A Sentimental Mood” and an appropriately-titled swing through “In A Mellow Tone.”
While developing his own voice, Silverman demonstrates both his Grappelli-esque French roots and his musical lineage (his father is musicologist Jerry Silverman), expressing his love of musical heritage while looking forward to his next accomplishment.
©2001, M. S. Robinson, ARR