AMG Review of Doin' the Thing (At the Village Gate) [RVG Edition]

Scott Yanow & Thom Jurek
All Music Guide

This live set (recorded at the Village Gate) finds pianist/composer Horace Silver and his most acclaimed quintet (the one with trumpeter Blue Mitchell, tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor, and drummer Roy Brooks) stretching out on four selections, including his new song, "Filthy McNasty." There are two bonus tracks on the Rudy Van Gelder remastered version on CD -- "It Ain't S'posed to Be Like That," which is six and a half minutes long, and the full version of "Cool Eyes," which takes the originally released set out. Sonically, these RVG editions don't sound that much different from the last remastered versions -- Blue Note keeps issuing the same records over and over again instead of digging into their back catalog -- but audiophiles will be grateful for the engineer's touch.