Harp in Jazz

[.:.impossible]

Alice Coltrane's harp adds a nice touch to McCoy Tyner's Extensions.

Guy

Alice Coltrane's harp adds a nice touch to anything she played on. Too bad John checked out so soon.

I've imagined a band including both Walt Dickerson and Alice Coltrane (mostly on harp) with Walt's choice of bassist(s) and drummer(s). I wonder if anyone else would be interested! I'm still hoping Walt starts playing out again. This collaboration with Alice is definitely a pipe dream!

[brownie]

I pray that when Walt Dickerson makes a reappearance, Alice Coltrane will not be allowed near the bandstand

[ejp626]

Chuck's mention of the Burning of Stones piece with 3 harps reminded me of a "World Music" group I enjoy called Koto Vortex, which is a quartet of 4 women playing the koto - a traditional Japanese instrument of 13 or 17 strings. They put out two albums Koto Vortex I and Koto Vortex II. Not jazz certainly, but really interesting nonetheless.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Chuck's mention of the Burning of Stones piece with 3 harps reminded me of a "World Music" group I enjoy called Koto Vortex, which is a quartet of 4 women playing the koto - a traditional Japanese instrument of 13 or 17 strings. They put out two albums Koto Vortex I and Koto Vortex II. Not jazz certainly, but really interesting nonetheless.

On some of his Impulse albums in the early '70s, Pharoah Sanders used a kora player, referred to in the sleeve notes as a "bailophone". The kora is a 21 string harp played by the Mandinke in West Africa. The bala or balaphone is a keyboard instrument rather like a marimba. There have subsequently been quite a few jazz recordings made with kora players.

MG

Edited March 7, 2006 by The Magnificent Goldberg

[mikeweil]

No intention to be over critical - but:

- the koto is a zither-type instrument. Zither are played laying flat and have a small flat resonating chamber, whereas harp strings are freely suspended in the frame, standing upright, with the rsonater at the base of the frame that holds the strings. Furthermore, you have frets below part of the zither strings.

- a concert harp:

- a zither and a koto:

- the kora is an instrument family of its own, called harp-lutes, because it bears characteristics of both instruments. The main difference to a harp is that the strings are suspended in two parallel rows.

These instruments may all sound similar to untrained ears, but they are different, and not harps.

Edited March 7, 2006 by mikeweil

[Christiern]

I pray that when Walt Dickerson makes a reappearance, Alice Coltrane will not be allowed near the bandstand

I would make that any bandstand or recording studio--ever again!

[Ken Dryden]

Harpist Daphne Hellman led a trio with a weekly gig at the Village Gate for years, but evidently did few recordings. Hellman's Angels: Pop Go the Angels! was issued as a Plug LP around 1989 or 1990 and was quickly out of print after the distributor/parent label (PM Records) ceased operations.

Here's a link to my AMG review of it with a track list:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:8i62mpsj9ffo

I think that Hellman died in the past few years, but I don't have any definite information.

[.:.impossible]

ok... Well, whatever. Make that Walt's choice of harpist as well then.

[brownie]

I pray that when Walt Dickerson makes a reappearance, Alice Coltrane will not be allowed near the bandstand

I would make that any bandstand or recording studio--ever again!

Coltrane's Yoko Ono!

[.:.impossible]

Oh come on. I like her impulse! albums.

[paul secor]

Strange how that works! For alll the world I couldn't remember the name of that lady harpist who played jazz, forgot about it and went about my business. Then about a half hour later, her first name popped into my head. A few minutes later, it all came back. It's as if while you're doing something else, part of your brain goes about opening dusty file drawers until it finds the answer.

The lady's name was Daphne Hellman. She had a home near me on Long Island, and her trio was called

Hellman's Angels. Thats all I know, and I didn't know I knew that.

Daphne Hellman was also the mother of guitarist (among other string instruments) Sandy Bull.

[Bright Moments]

Have yet to hear a Dorothy Ashby date that really impresses me but I have not heard many!

afro-harping is pretty darn good IMHO!

[alocispepraluger102]

No intention to be over critical - but:

- the koto is a zither-type instrument. Zither are played laying flat and have a small flat resonating chamber, whereas harp strings are freely suspended in the frame, standing upright, with the rsonater at the base of the frame that holds the strings. Furthermore, you have frets below part of the zither strings.

- a concert harp:

- a zither and a koto:

- the kora is an instrument family of its own, called harp-lutes, because it bears characteristics of both instruments. The main difference to a harp is that the strings are suspended in two parallel rows.

These instruments may all sound similar to untrained ears, but they are different, and not harps.

kimio eto and bud shank on flute made an absolutely gorgeous album, koto and flute, on pacific jazz, i think.

[alocispepraluger102]

marilyn mazur played in ahmad jamal's group for quite some time. they embellished each other and were magnificent together. i hope they someday get together again. much of the music was quite energetic.

[alocispepraluger102]

pearl chertok did an album with percussionist willie rodriquez which was most unique for its time and a fine listen. it may have been titled harp and bongos.

[alocispepraluger102]

marilyn mazur played in ahmad jamal's group for quite some time. they embellished each other and were magnificent together. i hope they someday record together again. much of the music was quite energetic, and of course, intelligent, and beautiful.

[/quote

[(BB)]

No intention to be over critical - but:

- the koto is a zither-type instrument. Zither are played laying flat and have a small flat resonating chamber, whereas harp strings are freely suspended in the frame, standing upright, with the rsonater at the base of the frame that holds the strings. Furthermore, you have frets below part of the zither strings.

- a concert harp:

- a zither and a koto:

- the kora is an instrument family of its own, called harp-lutes, because it bears characteristics of both instruments. The main difference to a harp is that the strings are suspended in two parallel rows.

These instruments may all sound similar to untrained ears, but they are different, and not harps.

Is it kosher to play the Koto or Harp while wearing Lederhosen or only the Zither?

[alocispepraluger102]

No intention to be over critical - but:

- the koto is a zither-type instrument. Zither are played laying flat and have a small flat resonating chamber, whereas harp strings are freely suspended in the frame, standing upright, with the rsonater at the base of the frame that holds the strings. Furthermore, you have frets below part of the zither strings.

- a concert harp:

- a zither and a koto:

- the kora is an instrument family of its own, called harp-lutes, because it bears characteristics of both instruments. The main difference to a harp is that the strings are suspended in two parallel rows.

These instruments may all sound similar to untrained ears, but they are different, and not harps.

Is it kosher to play the Koto or Harp while wearing Lederhosen or only the Zither?

i'm sure some of our chicago freestylers will be doing so soon.

[alocispepraluger102]

(i hate to keep harping)

Harpo at Work

Hipsters seem to prefer Harpo in Hi Fi, released the year earlier, and not just because it has the expression "hi fi" in the album title. That side featured a medium size jazz group with interesting players such as reed maestro Buddy Collette and swinging cellist Fred Katz. Hearing Harpo Marx in a jazz setting, the results more than just satisfying an urge for good music in this genre; it fulfills a popular fantasy in which the outrageous, anarchistic nature of the

Harpo character joins forces with the rebellious spirit that is jazz. In turn that cuts to the quick of why the music of Harpo Marx is so unique, indeed why the entire idea of the man as a musician is so compelling.

Marx the man is virtually indistinguishable from the character of Harpo he created in the public's mind, yet it was clearly the former who entered the studios to record instrumental albums, including earlier projects for RCA as well as the Mercury recordings. For once, however, there is no dichotomy between image and reality. One actually serves the other, as one of the strongest aspects of the Harpo character was the way he would take a breather from the madness all around him and sit down and play a haunting solo on the harp. The fact that the character was mute enhanced the idea even further; here, in music, he could really express himself, and oh so eloquently, turning a knuckle one way to get a certain tone, muffling a ringing chord with a twist

of the palm.

Chatter about his lack of orthodox harp technique added another layer of enhancement, connecting back to the idea of Harpo the rebel: of course the sweet little munchkin would never learn orthodox classical technique, not him. Everything to do with Harpo the musician was actually true about the man. He was not mute, but he was a selftaught harpist whose abilities left symphony players and instructors scratching their heads. That such a player might be sympathetic to jazz is a given. Although pianist Chico Marx was the brother with the heaviest credentials in the genre, including once having Mel Torme drum for him, there are plenty of other signs in Marx Brothers films that can be interpreted as jazz simpatico. Free jazz buffs even relish a moment in Monkey Business when during a chase aboard a ship, the gang commandeers all the instruments on a bandstand and carries on roughly in the tradition of an Albert Ayler record.

As for Harpo at Work the jazz connection would be Charlie Parker With Strings. From the opening "Laura" there is a strong smell of that project and that is meant in a way suggestive of exotic perfumes, perhaps an entire hillside of lavender growing along the Grand Corniche on the French Riviera. What is apparently also a virtuoso display of pedals on the harp is also a gorgeous performance of this standard that stands alongside any of the jazz greats. The program also includes a few Duke Ellington favorites as well as an "All the Things You Are" and an "Imagination". Even more so than the Bird With Strings project, this material inevitably comes off sounding like easy listening, a conclusion that is influenced greatly by the sound of the harp itself.

[king ubu]

Isabelle Olivier

She has two discs, both available from the Nocturne website (one of them is on the Nocturne label).

I just picked up "Petite et grande" (Compagnie Metamorphose) in a sale, haven't played it yet, but I first heard her in a 2006 broadcast on France Musique (I think from the festival on the Ile de Porquerolles). This disc mostly features her Ocean Quintet, with Sébastien Texier on reeds, a fine group:

At that festival she also appeared in a more ambitious/experimental set-up with a guy playing electronics, plus the violinist from her Quintet, Johan Renard.

[pepe]

Iro Haarla from Finland has a new record out on ECM. She was married to drummer Edward Vesala, and plays harp and piano in her quintet with Mathias Eick, trp, Trygve Seim, saxes, Uffe Krokfors, bass and Jon Christensen, drums.

[king ubu]

Haarla is great! I've heard a fantastic live broadcast of her quintet (and shared it with a few of you, feel free to pass it on!)

But mainly there she's on piano, no? It's been some time since I listened to it, and I haven't gotten her ECM disc.

[pepe]

Heard them live last summer, and they were more outgoing than I expected from the couple of cuts I'd heard of their recording. Haarla did some wild piano soloes and clusters comping, while her harp was mostly exposed in ensembles and for coloring, but a couple of times she also used it for extended improvisation. Christensen was better than I've heard him in many years, and Seim was in a Garbarek out of Barbieri mood - fatsounding.

Edited January 31, 2007 by pepe

[brownie]

Albert Ayler at home, Brooklyn, 1969.

Photo by Elliot Landy

[Bright Moments]