Bidding on THREE SOUNDS Soul Symphony

[Hardbopjazz]

I have almost all of the Three Sunds recordings on Blue Note except this and one other. Does anyone have an opinion of this session? Is it worth getting?

[Peter Johnson]

Of course! It's different from the rest, to be sure; it's a sort of concept album, including strings and, I think, vocals. But don't let that put you off--it's still got a pretty tight groove overall, and clearly has the Gene Harris influence. Allmusic doesn't like it that much (calls the vocal arrangements "bizarrely schlocky"), but I say go for it.

I predict Dan will weigh in in about...four minutes!

[Brad]

Calling Dan Gould

[Dan Gould]

Sorry I missed my cue

I first traded for a cassette copy of this, purely as a favor to Bill Fenohr and his search for every BN issue up to the relaunch of the label in the 80s. But once I gave it a listen, I decided to track down an LP copy for maximum fidelity.

Its not your original Sounds. There are strings and orchestra involved, and some vocals, though of the "ooh aah" variety, and hardly that noteworthy. What you do get is an enormous amount of funky, soulful Gene Harris piano. The "Soul Symphony" takes up all of Side 1 and was written by Monk Higgins, who actually started the composition while in college, and ultimately expanded it and adopted it for Gene specifically. It is an excellent piece, in my opinion, as it goes through various themes to capture the "Negro Experience": Soul Overture, Lonesome and Blue, Red Light District, Saturday Night, Sunday Night Program, Down Home. The music holds attention, and as I said, there's just a load of premium Gene funk and soul here.

In fact, I am seriously considering taking a esson from Jim Dye and including a second disc in my next Blindfold Test to include tunes that just won't fit on the disc but that I'd like people to hear. At 26 minutes, there was no way I'd include Soul Symphony on a BFT, but I would like people to hear it.

So, if you can't tell, that's a definite thumbs up for this album, assuming you are willing to hear something quite different from the original Sounds conception.

[ghost of miles]

Hey Dan, I just found a used TOJC copy of Out of This World in excellent condition for $7.99 on my dinner-break... good buy or no? Probably won't get to listen to it until tomorrow.

[Dan Gould]

David,

Its a great CD, with superior versions of Just In Time, You Make Me Feel So Young and the title track. Great find!