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EDDIE HARRIS Les McCann’s sometime-cohort Eddie Harris is the subject of the third Hyena release, A Tale of Two Cities. The disc is pretty much all straight-ahead live work of the first order, with three tracks recorded in the mid-eighties at Joe Segal’s Jazz Showcase in Chicago, and the remaining four tracks recorded in 1978 at San Francisco’s Keystone Korner. Harris, a Chicago native, is one of the distinctive major tenor players to hail from that city, but for whatever reason he never received the recognition one might expect. Deep into the blues/soul groove, Harris had a run of hits that culminated in his live Swiss Movement recording with Les McCann, pioneered the use of the electric saxophone, and generally had a lot going for him. Why jazz history has, to some extent, written him off is anyone’s guess. The opening track, “Chicago Serenade” demonstrates exactly what Harris did so well. Using the same groove that stoked his hit recording of “Exodus”, Harris plays a well-turned funky number, complete with some R&B squawks, working the crowd in the process. That’s followed by a serious rendition of “Cherokee” that is fast and demonstrates Harris’ technical ability (which few listeners ever gave him credit for). As a straight-ahead post bop player, Harris is up there with just about anyone you can name. Pianist Jack Wilson also turns in a nice solo (literally, as the rhythm section drops out). Eddie does an unusual balladic turn on “Lover Man”, offering a smoky Ben Webster-style tone in the lower registers and a Gene Ammons sound in the middle and upper reaches of the horn. By this point in the proceedings, anyone who is listening to this disc for the first time is going to be pretty seriously impressed. There’s more to come, however, as Eddie unleashes some righteous scatting on the snappy “Sonnymoon For Two” which also features Eddie playing piano and a trumpet fitted with a saxophone mouthpiece, a device that Eddie invented and even had copyrighted, though it never caught on. Harris’ version of “I Can’t Get Started” is performed in a pseudo-vintage style that seems to predate the sound of Coleman Hawkins, utilizing a honking R&B sound with lots of unfashionable vibrato. The result is curiously affecting, giving the listener a feeling of hearing what jazz sounded like before any of us were born. Following this curiosity are some wonderful examples of the innovative way that Harris used electronics in his performances. The nearly fifteen minute “Illusionary Dreams” finds Eddie using electronic effects very effectively, expanding the sound and emotional range of his horn rather than merely throwing some gimmicks out there. The piece is beautiful, and Harris explains at the end what the piece will sound like when it is recorded utilizing a full complement of synthesizers, percussion, and background vocalists. Sadly, such a recording was never made. However, the concluding two pieces, “Don’t Let Me Go” and “Listen Here” feature Harris doing Billie Holiday on his horn, a very spooky effect. The strings and piano heard on these pieces were prerecorded with Harris playing all the parts. Though he did this relatively rarely in live performance, it is captured here for posterity, and is well worth the price of admission all by itself. As the notes say, “It’s eerie watching him alone on stage with just the saxophone and realizing all the music you are hearing is being played by one person.”
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