This is the second of Joe Harriott's ground-breaking free forms records contained in two sessions from 1961 and 1962. Bobby Orr replaces Phil Seamen on the later session which, for some reason, appears first on this cd.
You either love it or hate it but you can't ignore it.
Joe struggled to get public and critical acceptance of this type of music music and soon all but abandoned it. Perhaps the great British public just wasn't ready for it in 1961. Well, Acker Bilk and Co. were at their peak then.
Shake Keane - trumpet
Joe Harriott - alto
Pat Smythe - piano
Coleridge Goode - bass
Bobby Orr - drums (01-04)
Phil Seamen - drums (05-08)
Frank Holder - bongos (05 08)
01 Subject (Harriott, Mayer) (6:02)
02 Shadows (Harriott) (6:00)
03 Oleo (Rollins) (7:10)
04 Modal (Harriott) (4:48)
05 Tonal (Harriott) (5:10)
06 Pictures (Harriott) (5:09)
07 Idioms (Harriott) (6:28)
08 Compound (Harriott) (5:05)
Label: Redial 538 183-2
Recorded: November 22 1961 (05-08) May 10 1962 (01-04)
Lineage: CD>FLAC
Ornette came first and one could argue about the influence of the Ornette-Don Cherry binome on the Harriot-Keane binome. They spoke the same language but the background was different, the blues on one side, calypso on the other. Something similar was happening in the southern hemisphere at the same time. Listen to Jazz Epistle Verse 1, Scullery Dept. e.g., there was something in the air, definitely.
ReplyDeleteJust for the anecdote, I used to go and listen to Shake Keane almost every week during the late 70s when I was working in St Vincent as a United Nations Volunteer. He played at the Aquatic club in Villa every Tuesday, easy listening (the favorite was "As Time Goes by") often accompanied by Kerwyn Morris on piano (St V. Latinaires). It was difficult to imagine that this gentle, big bearded guy playing smooth cocktail jazz for the tourists and the locals had been one of the most daring players in UK in the early 60s. I met him thru' a common friend, the poet Travers Philips, and even went once to his house for a couple of drinks. He only had one album left from the old days, a Kurt Edelhagen Orchestra LP - with whom i was completely unfamiliar at the time. I knew Shake Keane as a musician for his playing on the Sax No End abum of the Clarke Bolland BB but had little knowledge of his long career in Germany.
Deletemany thanks to bluebird, rodney and boogieman for his fascinating memoir. I think that without Ornette this album, and Harriott's 'free' jazz, would never have existed.
ReplyDeleteI approached this with some trepidation but the passage of time has rendered it much less "difficult" - enjoyed it more than I expected. Last saw Joe Harriott play at a poetry and jazz concert in Brixton Town Hall circa 1964. Many thanks to bluebird and Rodney.
ReplyDeleteQuite strange how this music becomes easily accessible in the post-modern world. Taking a reference point from the conversations that Stravinksy had with Robert Kraft, one is struck by how much clearer such music and it's meanings become!
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