Horace Silver composed over 300 songs in his long career. Countless musicians have performed and reinterpreted his iconic, swinging tunes over the years, so it is no small feat that Eldad Tarmu has found his unique approach to Silver’s music.

On Tarmu’s newest album, Silver on Aluminum, the vibraphonist and composer chose eight Horace Silver tunes, most of which were written for a quintet, and recast them for a trio setting of vibraphone, bass, and drums.

Silver on Aluminum (out now via Queen of Bohemia Productions) is Tarmu’s 10th CD as leader. It follows his 2023 release, Tarmu Jazz Quartet, about which All About Jazz said is “technically sound and musically astute with his own approach to the instrument, softer and less frenzied than Hampton or Gibbs, leaning toward the more temperate sounds produced by Jackson and Burton.”

1. The St. Vitus Dance
2. Pyramid
3. No Smokin’
4. Horacescope
5. Gregory Is Here
6. Opus De Funk
7. Strollin’
8. Yeah

This wonderfully spirited, heartfelt and impassioned new recording opens on the spirited The St. Vitus Dance and then we get the luxuriant Pyramid, the playfully opulent No Smokin’ and then we are brought forth the joyfully upbeat and fashionable Horacescope.

Up next is the free-flowing beauty exuding within every musical pore of Gregory Is Here and that is then in turn backed seamlessly by the exuberant Opus De Funk, the collection rounding out on the quietly low slung, yet melodious Strollin’ and closing on the furtively charmed Yeah.

Joining Tarmu on Silver on Aluminum are two younger, rising stars on the New York jazz scene Marty Isenberg on bass and Michael Shapira on drums. The name of the album refers to the fact that the vibraphone is an aluminum instrument.

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