Quick, name the artist who issued the first jazz album ever
\ncertified gold.<\/p>\n
Miles Davis would be a good guess; so would a half-dozen other
\njazz greats of the late ’50s-early ’60s era. The answer, however,
\nis Eddie Harris.<\/p>\n
The success of Harris’s debut album, 1961’s
\nExodus To Jazz<\/i>, was considered an amazing fluke at the time;
\nHarris was a complete unknown making his debut album for an r&b
\nlabel, not to mention the fact that they signed him as pianist, yet
\nhe played nothing but tenor sax on the album.<\/p>\n
That was the first big clue that Eddie Harris was not going to
\nplay the music industry’s “fulfilling expectations” game. Harris is
\na musical chameleon who explored the outer reaches of his
\naudience’s ability to adapt in a 35-year career that veered from
\nstraight bop to electric jazz to jazz-funk and even a stab at a
\nsomewhat raunchy nightclub comedy act. That said, during the ’60s,
\nhe was one of the most melodic, inventive sax players on the scene,
\nand this 1969 collection — whose 1989 CD version adds a generous
\nfive tracks and 25 minutes to the original LP — is all the
\nevidence required.<\/p>\n
These tunes have an innate swing and panache that turns even
\nepic free-for-alls like the hard-bopping “Freedom Jazz Dance” (all
\n9:39 of it) into compelling entertainment. The other principal
\nhighlight here — and the most notable addition to the CD reissue
\nof this album — is “Sham Time,” a bruising workout featuring a
\nnine-man band (including six horns) that milks every groove and
\nspotlights superb soloing.<\/p>\n
It’s easy to see from this album, however, that Harris was never
\ngoing to be satisfied being pigeonholed into any single genre or
\nstyle. Why else record a string-drenched piece of schmaltzy
\nHollywood jazz like Charles Stepney’s “Theme In Search of A Movie,”
\ndoubtless considered heresy by traditional jazz purists?<\/p>\n
The fun part of listening to this album – besides the
\nfinger-snapping grooves of cuts like “Live Right Now” and “Love
\nTheme From ‘The Sandpiper’ (The Shadow Of Your Smile)” — is
\nhearing Harris defy expectations again and again, ever the
\ndetermined explorer in search of a new vein of sound to mine.<\/p>\n
For example, the closing “Is It In?” is a snazzy excursion into
\nelectrified jazz-funk that’s miles (pun intended) from where this
\nalbum started out. Meanwhile, the live cut “Movin’ On Out” shows
\noff the potential of one of Harris’s major innovations — the
\nelectric sax, sweet-toned and full of sound-fattening echo. It’s
\nnot for everyone, but it’s intriguing and all Eddie Harris’s
\nown.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the highlight of Harris’ career was his all-too-brief
\nteaming with Les McCann at 1969’s Montreaux Jazz festival,
\nchronicled on the album
\nSwiss Movement<\/i>, co-credited to McCann and Harris. That album
\nis a must for anyone with any interest at all in jazz. If you’re
\nlooking for more, though,
\nThe Best Of Eddie Harris<\/i> might make a good next purchase —
\na concise summary of the 1965-73 middle phase of one of the most
\ntalented and innovative sax players of the modern jazz era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":26632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6516],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-37879","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-eddie-harris","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37879"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37879"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}