The African Queen is a jazz composition by Horace Silver, performed by the Horace Silver Quintet. It appears on The Cape Verdean Blues, a 1966 Blue Note album recorded in October 1965 and released in early January 1966. The tune runs about 9 minutes and showcases Silver’s hard bop style with a bluesy spirit, featuring Horace Silver on piano, Woody Shaw on trumpet, Joe Henderson on tenor sax, and Bob Cranshaw and Roger Humphries on bass and drums; trombonist J. J. Johnson appears on the album’s last three tracks. The Cape Verdean Blues was inspired by Silver’s Cape Verdean heritage through his father, and the album is regarded as a landmark Blue Note session produced by Alfred Lion.
