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I agree that the disc provides a picture of several sides of Harris.

I listened to this disc a few times over the weekend. Overall I enjoyed the disc, if not as much as a couple of other Eddie Harris recordings I have heard recently. If nothing else, this disc showed a few of the many sides of Harris. My favorite track was the opening "Chicago Serenade". The group gets a nice soulful groove and sustains it throughout and Harris' solo is typically good. The group gets into an even deeper groove on "Illusionary Dreams". "Cherokee" is proof of Harris technical mastery of the horn and "Lover Man" is a nice rendition of the ballad. The only potential flaw to me would be the two tracks that possibly others will enjoy - "Don't Let Me Go" and "Listen Here". On both of these tracks Harris plays all the instruments with the help of a cassette recording of himself. I think this thing probably works better for the listener live as opposed to hearing it on a recording. For me, it sounded a little gimmicky. Harris singing through his tenor to emulate Billie Holiday singing is interesting, but in the end did not move me particularly. Also, I enjoy Harris' composition "Listen Here", but IMO this version does not add anything to the composition. While listening to these tracks I could not help but wonder what purpose they serve since we know Harris had a band available with him at the performance. He could as easily sang through his horn using the rhythm section that was on the gig, so why do it all by yourself, but to show that you can? Anyway, those are small gripes on an otherwise enjoyable recording.

Obscure in the sense that to my knowledge these have never been available in the United States, but possibly some of our members in Germany are familiar ... The German organist Matthias Bätzel. I discovered him within the past two years when I was doing a thorough investigation of jazz organ. I have three recordings featuring Bätzel, all of which are easily recommended to fans of jazz organ. The first two under his leadership both on the Swiss JHM Records label are the 2000 date Green Dumplings and Monk's Mood from 2001. Both are trio outings that show Bätzel's stated affection for both Larry Young and Don Patterson. The latter disc features all Thelonious Monk compositions and is the only organ date I am aware of to do so. In addition to the two under Bätzel's leadership there is also a 1996 disc on the Organic Music label under the group name Grooveyard titled Basic Instinct. This disc features the rotating tenors of Ron Holloway, Houston Person and another tenor whose name I can not remember. On this disc Bätzel proves that he can maintain a soulful groove with the best of them. Someone worth checking out.

They are in Connecticut this weekend. The concerts are not free, however. Probably can not make it anyway since my wife's birthday is the weekend (she is not a fan of the music).

I would say you have a good reason to be POd.

A timely choice for me considering I am in the midst of my first exposure to Harris and have been thoroughly investigating his artistry for the past couple of weeks. This is one that I do not have, but if Jim is recommending it I am checking it out. I just ordered it from half.com for $8.98 and looking forward to my first participation in the AOTW.

I have an unofficial recording of the Coleman octet supposedly performed at Bushnell Park in Hartford, CT with the same date. I don't have it with me so I can not check the tracks to see if they are the same. I do not have any personnel information. My understanding is that this was never issued, neither as a bootleg or as an official recording.

Can anyone offer any help in where I can locate a copy of this long OOP LP? I have a copy on cassette that I received from Barron's widow, but I would prefer the actual LP. Date: ca. 1972 Location: New York City Label: Savoy Bill Barron (ldr), Bill Barron (ts), Kenny Barron (p), Chris White (bass), Al Hicks (d) a. a-01 Motivation (Bill Barron) b. a-02 Land Of Sunshine (Bill Barron) c. a-03 Blues For R. A. (Bill Barron) d. b-01 Cosmos (Kenny Barron) e. b-02 Hold Back Tomorrow (Bill Barron) f. b-03 Mental Vibrations (Bill Barron) All titles on: - Savoy LP 12": 12303 - Motivation

Thats good to know. I just ordered both New Dance and Scattered Clouds yesterday.

Me too.

I had the opportunity to listen to this album for the first time this week. Reading the previous comments illuminated something that I was thinking. Daley shows himself to be a very interesting improvisor, but it is Thorne's contribution that make this a special recording to me. He plays with a lot of imagination and I love his sound on bass. The Newport recording is very good IMO, but if there is better by this group I sure would love to hear it. Anyone know whether Thorne can be heard on any other recordings?

I suppose a link to the list of sale items would help. Hat Sale

Thought some might be interested in this email that I received from Downton Music Gallery (DMG. I am not going to post the entire list, but the fact that there is a sale should interest some. THE BIGGEST HAT LABEL SALE YET!!! OVER 140 HATOLOGY - HAT[NOW] - HAT-ART TITLES!!! 36 HAT TITLES HAVE JUST BEEN ADDED TO OUR 7 FOR THE PRICE OF 6 SALE LIST !!!!!!!! OK! We've come by some limited stocks of these 36 HAT(ology) and HAT[now]ART titles that we can sell to you below well our wholesale [so now you know how little our margin usually is!] NONE of these 36 were listed in our Oct 03 HAT Sale [so dont fall asleep on this one!] NORMALLY $17, ALL HAT TITLES BELOW ARE NOW $12 EACH - AND ANY 7 FOR THE PRICE OF 6 [$72] !!! THAT'S $10.30 EACH!! - WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!!! - When these items are gone, they will be OUT-OF-PRINT AT ANY PRICE! ... ..PLUS.... 79 OUT-OF-PRINT HAT-ARTs - $20 WHEN THEY WERE IN PRINT - NOW $12 EACH [for single CDs]!!!! [not part of '7 for 6' sale, see Part 2 of this email] ... AND FINALLY, SOME OF THE OLDER 'HAT ART' [6000] SERIES, WHICH ARE EFFECTIVELY OUT-OF-PRINT, ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FOR $12 for SINGLE Cds [higher for 2 CD, 3CD etc. sets] [YOU MAY ORDER NOW AND TELL US TO WAIT TILL THE END OF THIS WEEKEND [1/25] TO SHIP IN CASE YOU HAVE ANY ADD-ONS FROM TOMORROW'S NEWSLETTER. SOME ITEMS MAY HAVE TO WAIT FOR ADDITIONAL STOCK ARRIVAL NEXT WEEK]

I have only recently had my first exposure to Eddie Harris and in the past couple of weeks I have been doing a somewhat thorough investigation of his music. I have heard most of the recordings already mentioned in addition to a couple not. I am really enjoying the journey thus far. All these years I had mistakenly assumed that Harris was a "soul jazz" artist with limited talent. My apoligies to the Harris estate and anyone else that misguided assumption may offend. Wow! He really was a mother. I listened to the entireSiwss Movement disc last week and was blown away. I had heard the two hit tracks many times in my life, but that was the first time I ever actually "listened" to the album. Very funky and soulful, but Harris also plays some to my ears advanced tenor on that record. The best example to me is the third track (can't remember the title). My first reaction was this is an amazing solo! In addition to all the recordings previously mentioned I would also strongly recommend Vexatious Progressions. Its a quintet recording from the nineties when Harris was primarily playing hard bop. The playing is strong and I especially like the compositions. Noone wants to read a long boring list, but I have also enjoyed Steps Up (with Tete Montoliu), There Was A Time (Echo of Harlem), Freedom Jazz Dance (1997 quartet date with Jacky Terrasson and Billy Hart on Musicmasters), The Lost Album Plus The Better Half (highlighted by the presence of Bunky Green and two extended 15 minute workouts with Mel Rhyne on organ that prove how inventive Green and Harris are), The In Sound/Mean Greans, and Exodus To Jazz/Mighty Like A Rose. I am going to keep an eye on this thread so keep the recommendations coming.

This past week I had my first exposure to Ortega on his, On Evidence recording. Liked it a lot and will probably jump on those hat releases. For anyone possibly interested, Downtown Music Gallery is selling both New Dance and Scattered Clouds for $12.00 a piece. I think the former is the earlier hat art reissue and not the 2003 hatology reissue.

How could I forget Alto Memories? Fortune, gary Bartz, Kenny Barron, Buster Williams and Jack DeJohnette. The music lives up to the wonderful personnel. A terrific recording.

I have Laying It Down and It Ain't What it Was. I have not listened to either in a while, but my memory is that both are solid quartet recordings.

Warne Marsh's Ne Plus Ultra orginally released on LP by Revelation was reissued on CD by hat art. Would love to see that available once again.

I thought I might have mentioned this disc before, but maybe I was thinking about something else. I like this one a lot. Has a laid back M-Base feel to it that I admite and Shim playes well throughout. I must confess that I do not know much about Billy Bauer, but I will say that both Tactiles and Jeff Parker's Like-Coping made me think of Bern Nix's Alarms and Excursions.

I was wrong. According to AMG at least Hard Groovin and Saxotic Stomp have at one time been available on CD. I just also remembered that I own Tenor Madness Too on CD.

I think that most, if not all of the Muse titles have never been reissued on CD in their entirety. I think there is a 32 Jazz compilation from the Muse stuff, but all of those great sextets (septets?) he did with James Spaulding are still waiting to be reheard. I have all of the Muse LPs.

I ordered that one at about the same time I ordered Adobe, but have not received it yet. Hoping to receive it within a day or two and give it an immediate listen.

Bill Barron - Motivation on Savoy. It has never been reissued on CD and I have been searching for a copy of the LP for a couple of years now. I actually got a copy of the LP on cassette from Barron's widow, Ana, who lives nearby. Unfortunately, the sound quality is not as good as I would have hoped. Its a terrific album nonetheless and one that I would probably be willing to spend a hearty sum to own. Of course since we are talking about it, if there is anyone out there with a good copy of the LP and is willing to either sell it or even burn it on CDR for me I would be foreever grateful. I don't think this is one that is going to be reissued any time soon.

Do you remember who the other musicians were when you heard him play?

Sent you a PM.