One critic, whose name escapes me, once said that Hard Bop was feel good party music. While I would argue that there is more to the idiom than just that, nevertheless, finger poppin' and good times are evident through out. Horace Silver is undoubtedly a pioneer of the idiom and the two cuts we hear from him, one from the beginning and other from the end, of his career showcase the good times quality of Hard Bop.

The second set starts out finger poppin' with all the trimmings of a good meal but continues with an emotionally honest ode followed by the bittersweet. The emotional goodness is here, but as we see, what is good is not always happy. Emotional honesty = emotional good.

Our third set sandwiches an an early exploration of the outer edges of melodic and harmonic structure with two standards revisited by some of the younger generation of jazz, each with a fresh exploration on the happy and the melancholy. Texturally it's a journey, but if you stay the course, it's very rewarding.

The final set celebrates the sunny side of realization. Listen for reed section with the Four Freshman. Did you hear it?

Yup, it's a human reed but it's a perfect big band arrangement. Despite what you might be feeling at given moment, if your attitude believes that you've got a world that swings that you are not really mired in the blues and you have a sense of humor, you'll make it through the day.

So the next time you step out into the real world, take on the world with a mighty swing. You might just feel good about the rest of your day.