Joe Harriot reissue on Cadillac

[David Ayers]

For years the vinyl was freely available from Mole and Rays - it was like they couldn't give it away! Then it became hard-to-find. And now it is back as a CD!

Joe Harriott Quintet 'Swings High'

(1967, with Phil Seaman / Pat Smythe / Stu Hamer / Coleridge Goode)

I saw it advertised as a new release at Crazy Jazz. I don't know about US availability.

[ghost of miles]

Thanks for the tip, David.

[A Lark Ascending]

That looks nice. I'm particularly keen to hear more Pat Smythe.

[jazzbo]

I've got an lp burn of this somewhere, from an American lp, and this is kindof. . . hardbop!

[Dmitry]

That's very good.

I might be tempted [heck, I AM tempted], but what does the music sound like? Indo-Jazz or Abstract?

[jazzbo]

As I remember. . . neither. Sort of. ..hardbop.

[A Lark Ascending]

That would fit with the account in the recent bio. It suffests that after the failure of Free Form and Abstract to take off Harriott retreated into a more conventional style.

[David Ayers]

I played this last night to remind myself.

The vinyl I have is Cadillac 1989, but looks like a reissue. I don't know the date of original issue (maybe it is 1989?), but the recording date is 1967.

The sound quality is not good, and this is not just down to vinyl mastering but to the condition of the tape and the recording technique used. You would want to hold off on this until you get a report on the sound which is on the 'historical' side.

Personnel are Harriott, Stu Hamer (t), Pat Smythe (p), Coleridge Goode (B), Phil Seaman (d)

Tracks are

1 Tuesday Morning Song

2 A Time for Love

3 The Rake

4 Blues in C

5 Shepherd's Serenade

6 Polka Dots & Moonbeams

7 Strollin' South

8 Count Twelve

Compositions 1, 4 and 8 are by Harriott, 3 and 5 by Dizzy Reece (Reece recorded them for BN).

There are no track times but each LP side is maybe a little under 20 minutes. The music is straight ahead.

It is a good, British jazz album, but you will want to hear it only if you are keen to hear as much of what little Harriott you can easily get your hands on.

I'd be interested to hear about the sound quality of the CD - without some improvement you could be quite disappointed if you payed top whack.

By the way, I also have the Genius CD if anyone would like a report on that.

Edited May 18, 2004 by David Ayers

[A Lark Ascending]

I'm intrigued by the thought of Coleridge Goode playing B) - what does that sound like?

I've only every heard him on bass.

[David Ayers]

I'm intrigued by the thought of Coleridge Goode playing B) - what does that sound like?

It sounds

[David Ayers]

Here is the back:

[David Ayers]

Here is some of the inside:

[David Ayers]

Basically, the sound is historic, the decision to add bass to the duet tracks musically understandable but bizarre, especially as Goode adds his vocalised bass solos to two or three tracks.

There are many reasons not to buy this disk, but in the end you DO get to hear a lot of Harriott. I'd say this is interesting for those who are interested, but you are likely to set it aside after two or three plays.

[JSngry]

Got to hear this, and it's interesting mostly for Harriot's playing, which, although remaining essentially "inside", still shows a lot of tonal and harmonic references to his free work. He sounds at times like a continuation of the Criss/Dolphy lineage, but in his own way. Pretty "attention getting", especially on "Polka dots & Moonbeams".

The sound is REALLY funky, and the rest of the band is good, if nothing else. Phil Seaman gets a good groove going. But if you dig Harriot, I'd think that this would be something you'd want to at least hear, and, at the right price, own. I dug it.

[David Ayers]