Eddie Harris Corner

[Rabshakeh]

Thanks Hutch! I saw your post earlier and thought it was worth checking.

[JSngry]

You will also want to hear the piano/tenor duet album of Eddie Harris and Eddie Harris.

https://youtu.be/tG7AggT_kZA

[Rabshakeh]

8 minutes ago, JSngry said:

You will also want to hear the piano/tenor duet album of Eddie Harris and Eddie Harris.

https://youtu.be/tG7AggT_kZA

I can't think of another artist who keeps you guessing what's coming next quite like Harris does.

[JSngry]

https://youtu.be/2EgD2yU15VM

Eddie Harris was a basaaad man

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

i will put up someday upon loacting 9 hours of live eddie harris 1985-1987

[JSngry]

https://youtu.be/Zm1OvCUFMr4

[mikeweil]

On 21.2.2021 at 11:57 PM, HutchFan said:

Yes.  Absolutely!

For EH in the 80s sans electronics, I'd recommend Homecoming (Spindletop) with Ellis Marsalis.  Gorgeous playing by both men.  I was listening to this earlier today.   

That is a great album. I would also recommend one on ENJA, There Was A Time.

Edited February 23, 2021 by mikeweil

[soulpope]

33 minutes ago, mikeweil said:

That is a great album. I would also recommend one on ENJA, There Was A Time.

Yep ....

[Gheorghe]

I saw Eddie Harris for almost 2 weeks almost every night in early 1986 at a small defunct Viennese Jazz Club "Jazz-Spelunke"

He was with Ralphe Armstrong on bass and Sherman Ferguson on drums, and he played tenor sax, reed-trumpet and piano, sometimes vocal like the thing he played and sang every night "Eddy Who?". 

I still wonder how that little one room jazz club, that mostly booked locals and had live music only until 22.00h due to neighbours had the chance to book this giant for such an extended period and I wonder, why they were for so much time in Viena, since I doubt they could make much money there, though the house was packed every night. 

I now that they recorded for Timeless short time after that gig, maybe the had some time off from schedule, it´s really strange but I remember it very well. 

[rpklich]

In the mid 70s to the late 80s I worked in a record store in Chicago.  Eddie used to drop by when he was in his former hometown, visiting relatives and friends.  One of his friends was the store manager.  Eddie was a pretty good pool player, at least better those of us who worked in the store.  The player who got him to pick up the sax in the first place was Earl Bostic.  “You think I started by listening to Charlie Parker?”  Eddie asked.  He was a great storyteller.  His band teacher in high school was Capt. Walter Dyett, subject of a few of those stories  One scene that is etched in my mind was Eddie asking (begging?) the owner of the store (who owned a label) to record him. Eddie was willing to finance the session.  It was the late 70s, a real difficult time for jazz and the owner.  He was turned down to my disbelief.  

 

 

[DMP]

Regarding “Cool Sax, Warm Hart” - I used to catch Sid McCoy’s late night show from WCFL (“the voice of labor in Chicago”) - the signal made it to western Pennsylvania - and he regularly played “Hip Hoppin’” from the album. One night he commented, with a chuckle (or was it sarcasm?)  in his voice -  “Warm hearted Eddie”. I’ll bet Sid had a lot of good stories!

[soulpope]

7 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

I saw Eddie Harris for almost 2 weeks almost every night in early 1986 at a small defunct Viennese Jazz Club "Jazz-Spelunke"

He was with Ralphe Armstrong on bass and Sherman Ferguson on drums, and he played tenor sax, reed-trumpet and piano, sometimes vocal like the thing he played and sang every night "Eddy Who?". 

I still wonder how that little one room jazz club, that mostly booked locals and had live music only until 22.00h due to neighbours had the chance to book this giant for such an extended period and I wonder, why they were for so much time in Viena, since I doubt they could make much money there, though the house was packed every night. 

I now that they recorded for Timeless short time after that gig, maybe the had some time off from schedule, it´s really strange but I remember it very well. 

Believe "Eddie Who" never received (the well deserved) recognition ....

[clifford_thornton]

33 minutes ago, rpklich said:

In the mid 70s to the late 80s I worked in a record store in Chicago.  Eddie used to drop by when he was in his former hometown, visiting relatives and friends.  One of his friends was the store manager.  Eddie was a pretty good pool player, at least better those of us who worked in the store.  The player who got him to pick up the sax in the first place was Earl Bostic.  “You think I started by listening to Charlie Parker?”  Eddie asked.  He was a great storyteller.  His band teacher in high school was Capt. Walter Dyett, subject of a few of those stories  One scene that is etched in my mind was Eddie asking (begging?) the owner of the store (who owned a label) to record him. Eddie was willing to finance the session.  It was the late 70s, a real difficult time for jazz and the owner.  He was turned down to my disbelief.  

 

 

Jazz Record Mart and Delmark, I presume.

[JSngry]

On the subject of Eddie Harris in the 80s and beyond, yes he remained active, yes there's a good number of recordings, and yes, they're pretty much all worth checking out.

For instance:

[relyles]

 

This is a good one recorded in 1994.

[JSngry]

How about that Horace Parlan record on Steeplechase where the front line of Thad Jones and Eddie Harris? Serendipitous!

[mikeweil]

14 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

I saw Eddie Harris for almost 2 weeks almost every night in early 1986 at a small defunct Viennese Jazz Club "Jazz-Spelunke"

He was with Ralphe Armstrong on bass and Sherman Ferguson on drums, and he played tenor sax, reed-trumpet and piano, sometimes vocal like the thing he played and sang every night "Eddy Who?". 

I still wonder how that little one room jazz club, that mostly booked locals and had live music only until 22.00h due to neighbours had the chance to book this giant for such an extended period and I wonder, why they were for so much time in Viena, since I doubt they could make much money there, though the house was packed every night. 

I now that they recorded for Timeless short time after that gig, maybe the had some time off from schedule, it´s really strange but I remember it very well. 

I saw that group, with Lucky Thompson's son on guitar added, in Frankfurt's Jazzkeller. 

In an interview conducted in Germany around that time he said he preferred playing these smaller gigs as he reached more people, even if they paid much less than festivals.

[JSngry]

Also, I believe that Eddie Harris had long standing IRS issues in the wake of Exodus. At some point, I think he he got it all paid off, but even so, smaller gigs in foreign countries, hey ,better cash flow, less of a paper trail, I would totally get that. 

 

 

 

[Mark Stryker]

"Eddie Harris Sounds Incredible" from 1980 lives up to the billing. There's only one track on YouTube.

 

[Gheorghe]

6 hours ago, mikeweil said:

I saw that group, with Lucky Thompson's son on guitar added, in Frankfurt's Jazzkeller. 

In an interview conducted in Germany around that time he said he preferred playing these smaller gigs as he reached more people, even if they paid much less than festivals.

Very interesting info since I had no idea how he played for so long time in a small club in Viena. I even had thought they were somehow "stranded" but now with your info I´m sure this was not the case. 

Yes, small clubs were fine , but let´s say this was 1986. A few years later there were not many clubs left. 

@soulpope You are from the same town and the same generation like me: Did you also see Eddie Harris at "Jazz Spelunke".

Well, I was a regular, that was a place were musicians met each others, sometimes we even checked some gigs from there, and the "Bier von Fass" was good. For me, 1060 Viena was almost the "Jazz Bezirk". On the other side of that small street was "uzzi´s café Einhorn", and a few minutes from there was "Jazz By Freddie". 

It´s almost like the older US jazz musicians I still witnessed when they said "here we had the "Three Deuces" , here we had "Onyx" , the "Royal Roost" etc etc.......

[soulpope]

6 minutes ago, Gheorghe said:

Very interesting info since I had no idea how he played for so long time in a small club in Viena. I even had thought they were somehow "stranded" but now with your info I´m sure this was not the case. 

Yes, small clubs were fine , but let´s say this was 1986. A few years later there were not many clubs left. 

@soulpope You are from the same town and the same generation like me: Did you also see Eddie Harris at "Jazz Spelunke".

Well, I was a regular, that was a place were musicians met each others, sometimes we even checked some gigs from there, and the "Bier von Fass" was good. For me, 1060 Viena was almost the "Jazz Bezirk". On the other side of that small street was "uzzi´s café Einhorn", and a few minutes from there was "Jazz By Freddie". 

It´s almost like the older US jazz musicians I still witnessed when they said "here we had the "Three Deuces" , here we had "Onyx" , the "Royal Roost" etc etc.......

Didn`t see him during this "Jazz Spelunke " stance .... unfortunately ....

[Gheorghe]

4 hours ago, soulpope said:

Didn`t see him during this "Jazz Spelunke " stance .... unfortunately ....

One special thing was that Austro-Pop singer Wilfried came to see Eddy Harris. I had a long conversation with Wilfried at the bar and he stated that he is a big fan of Eddie Harris and has almost all of his records. Life is full of surprises. 

Those were the days, the house was packed every evening . 

[JSngry]

Did they pay him in cash?

[Gheorghe]

4 hours ago, JSngry said:

Did they pay him in cash?

yes, "Spelunke" always payed in cash.

[JSngry]

There ya' go.

A lot of career decisions can be traced to the need for cash.