Eddie Harris feat. Wendell Harrison - The Enja Heritage Collection: The Battle Of The Tenors (2018)

Eddie Harris:
Long underrated in the pantheon of jazz greats, Eddie Harris was an eclectic and imaginative saxophonist whose career was marked by a hearty appetite for experimentation. For quite some time, he was far more popular with audiences than with critics, many of whom denigrated him for his more commercially successful ventures. Harris' tastes ranged across the spectrum of black music, not all of which was deemed acceptable by jazz purists. He had the chops to handle technically demanding bop, and the restraint to play in the cool-toned West Coast style, but he also delved into crossover-friendly jazz-pop, rock- and funk-influenced fusion, outside improvisations, bizarre electronic effects, new crossbreedings of traditional instruments, blues crooning, and even comedy. Much of this fell outside the bounds of what critics considered legitimate, serious jazz, and so they dismissed him out of hand as too mainstream or too gimmicky. To be fair, Harris' large catalog is certainly uneven; not everything he tried worked. Yet with the passage of time, the excellence of his best work has become abundantly clear. Harris' accomplishments are many: he was the first jazz artist to release a gold-selling record, thanks to 1961's hit adaptation of the "Exodus" movie theme; he was universally acknowledged as the best player of the electric Varitone sax, as heard on his hit 1967 album The Electrifying Eddie Harris; he was an underrated composer whose "Freedom Jazz Dance" was turned into a standard by Miles Davis; he even invented his own instruments by switching brass and reed mouthpieces. Plus, his 1969 set with Les McCann at the Montreux Jazz Festival was released as Swiss Movement, and became one of the biggest-selling jazz albums of all time.

Harris was born in Chicago on October 20, 1934. His first musical experiences were as a singer in church, starting at age five, and he soon began playing hymns by ear on the piano. He spent part of his high school years at Du Sable, where he studied the vibraphone under the legendary band director Walter Dyett, a disciplinarian who trained some of the South Side's greatest jazzmen: Nat King Cole, Johnny Griffin, Gene Ammons, Julian Priester, and many others (even rocker Bo Diddley). He later returned to the piano and took up the tenor sax as well, and went on to study music at Roosevelt College. He landed his first professional job as a pianist, backing saxman Gene Ammons, and got the chance to sit in with greats like Charlie Parker and Lester Young. After college, he was drafted into the military; while serving in Europe, he successfully auditioned for the 7th Army band, which also included the likes of Don Ellis, Leo Wright, and Cedar Walton, among others. Following his discharge, he lived in New York and played in whatever groups and venues he could, still chiefly as a pianist. Harris returned to Chicago in 1960 and soon signed with the successful, locally based Vee Jay, which was better known for its R&B and blues acts. Although the label signed Harris as a pianist, he played only tenor sax on his first album. That album, 1961's Exodus to Jazz, would become one of jazz's most surprising success stories. The key track was "Exodus," Harris' easygoing rearrangement of Ernest Gold's theme from the epic Biblical film of the same name. It was an unlikely source for a jazz tune, and an even unlikelier hit, but it managed to catch on with mainstream radio; released as a single in a shortened version, it even climbed into the lower reaches of the pop Top 40. Its success pushed the LP all the way to number two on the pop album charts, and Exodus to Jazz became the first jazz album ever certified gold.

Many critics lambasted Harris for his commercial success, overlooking his very real talent; for one, Harris played so sweetly and smoothly in the upper register of his horn that many listeners assumed he was playing an alto, or even a soprano sax. Stung by the criticism, Harris long refused to play "Exodus" in concert; nonetheless, he recorded several albums for Vee Jay over the next two years that often contained attempts to duplicate his movie-theme-adaptation idea. None of his records were as popular as Exodus to Jazz, though they sold quite respectably. In 1964, Harris moved over to Columbia, pursuing a similar musical direction (albeit with orchestral backing at times). Harris switched over to Atlantic in 1965 and promptly rejuvenated his jazz credentials with The In Sound, a classic, fairly straight-ahead bop album that introduced his original "Freedom Jazz Dance" (later covered by Miles Davis on the classic Miles Smiles). On the follow-up, 1966's Mean Greens, Harris dabbled in the electric piano; later that year, on The Tender Storm, he first experimented with the electric Varitone saxophone, which was essentially a traditional instrument fitted with an amplification system and an electronic signal processor that allowed for different tonal effects. That instrument became the focus of 1967's The Electrifying Eddie Harris, a bluesy, funky soul-jazz classic that marked Harris as one of the very few sax players to develop a distinctive, personal style on the electric sax that was also unique to the instrument's capabilities. A re-recorded version of "Listen Here" (originally featured on The Tender Storm) gave Harris a second major hit single; it just barely missed the R&B Top Ten, which helped send the LP to number two on the R&B album charts. Subsequent follow-ups -- Plug Me In, High Voltage, the Echoplex-heavy Silver Cycles -- found Harris' electrified brand of jazz-funk selling well on both the jazz and R&B charts over 1968-1969, regularly making the Top Five on the former and the Top 40 on the latter.

In 1969, Harris joined pianist Les McCann's regular group at the Montreux Jazz Festival; despite a complete lack of rehearsal time together, the on-stage chemistry was immediate, and the gig was released as the LP Swiss Movement, credited to McCann and Harris. Paced by the hit singles "Compared to What" and "Cold Duck Time," Swiss Movement hit number two on the R&B charts en route to becoming one of the biggest-selling jazz albums of all time. Meanwhile, Harris' solo career continued apace, with increasingly playful -- and sometimes bizarre -- experiments. 1970's Come On Down! was a more jazz-rock-flavored session that found Harris singing into his horn through its effects unit. He also began to experiment with new horns, inventing such instruments as the reed trumpet (basically a trumpet fitted with a sax mouthpiece; heard most notably on 1970's Free Speech and 1971's Instant Death) and the saxobone (a sax with a trombone mouthpiece). 1972's Eddie Harris Sings the Blues further explored the concept of singing through his horn, with often strange results; the following year's E.H. in the U.K. took him to Britain to record jazz-rock with Steve Winwood, Albert Lee, Jeff Beck, and others. The spacy, heavily electronic Is It In, issued in 1974, ranked as one of his most creatively successful experiments. Subsequent albums like I Need Some Money, Bad Luck Is All I Have, and That Is Why You're Overweight were all over the musical map, but favored comic R&B-style vocal numbers, now without the electronic effects.

Harris' sales had been slipping, but were still fairly strong for a jazz artist, up until 1975's The Reason Why I'm Talking Shit, which abandoned humorous songs in favor of full-on, adults-only stand-up comedy. Only a few bits of music were interspersed between all the nightclub patter, and the results were so left-field that Harris' audience stayed away in droves. Thus, 1976's wide-ranging How Can You Live Like That? was largely ignored, and Harris parted ways with Atlantic by 1978. Harris went to RCA for two albums recorded in 1979, the limp fusion outing I'm Tired of Driving and the completely solo Playing With Myself, on which Harris dubbed horn solos over his own piano work. He didn't stay for long; over the course of the '80s and '90s, he recorded mostly for small labels like Steeple Chase, Enja, Timeless, and Flying Heart, among others. These albums found Harris returning to traditional hard bop, generally in acoustic quartet settings. He made his final studio recordings in the mid-'90s, and was forced to stop performing by the combined effects of bone cancer and kidney disease. He passed away in Los Angeles on November 5, 1996, about six months after a final concert engagement in his hometown of Chicago. ~ Steve Huey

Wendell Harrison:
Detroit's Wendell Harrison is an award-winning saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. With Phil Ranelin he co-founded the Tribe in 1971. Their acclaimed albums included 1972's Message from the Tribe and Harrison's 1973 classic An Evening with the Devil. Harrison founded the Wen-Ha and Rebirth labels. Dreams of a Love Supreme appeared in 1980. 1993's Something for Pops was recorded with Harold McKinney. Carl Craig produced 2009's Tribe: Rebirth. In 2021, Harrison's lost 1975 album Farewell to the Welfare saw release . Current effort Get Up Off Your Knees the following year. Harrison joined Ranelin, Adrian Younge, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad and recorded Phil Ranelin and Wendell Harrison JID016.

Wendell Harrison was born in Detroit in 1942. He began studying clarinet at age seven. He attended Northwestern High School, and his classmates included trumpeter Lonnie Hillyer, drummer Roy Brooks, and saxophonist Charles McPherson. Harrison began formal jazz studies during the mid- to late '50s with pianist and composer Barry Harris at the Detroit Conservatory of Music (now called the Center for Creative Studies). During the latter part of the decade, he played early sessions for Motown and backed Marvin Gaye, as well as Aretha Franklin for Columbia.

In 1960, Harrison left Detroit to make his jazz mark in New York City. He won work early on with Grant Green, Eddie Jefferson, Jack McDuff, Elvin Jones, and Sun Ra -- the latter was also new to town. In 1964 he earned a spot in saxophonist Hank Crawford's road and studio crews. Between 1964 and 1968, Harrison recorded four albums with Crawford during his Atlantic period, including Mr. Blues, Dig These Blues, After Hours, and Double Cross. The experience proved doubly fruitful for Harrison: He learned to compose and arrange during his tenure with Crawford.

In 1970, he left New York for California briefly. He had picked up a drug habit and checked into Synanon for rehab. There he met and played with a host of other notable musicians including Art Pepper and Esther Phillips. In 1971, after completing treatment and recuperation, Harrison returned to Detroit.

Back in the Motor City, he started playing sessions anywhere and everywhere. He worked with jazz, rock, and R&B musicians in local studios and live, and played for radio and television commercials. He also became a jazz educator. Harrison taught music at Metro Arts, a creative complex for youth founded by Dr. Amelita Mandingo. While teaching at Metro Arts, he met legendary Detroit pianist and composer Harold McKinney and reconnected with trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, a friend whom he'd first met in New York. He also met trombonist and composer Phil Ranelin from Indianapolis, who had relocated to Detroit the year before.

Harrison and Ranelin conceived the Tribe organization as a holistic entity. They formed a record label (Tribe Records) and an artist's collective that held workshops, rehearsals, meetings, and gigs. Tribe conveyed a growing Black political consciousness in Detroit. The organization also included drummer/composer Doug Hammond, Belgrave, pianist Kenny Cox, and trumpeter Charles Moore among others. They performed together live and played on each other's Tribe Records albums. Tribe also published a magazine; a quarterly, then monthly publication dedicated to musical and political revolutionaries and political issues, it was published by Harrison's company, The Harrison Association.

The Tribe's first release was 1972's A Message from the Tribe, co-billed to Harrison and Ranelin. A combination of spiritual jazz, soul, and funk, the album sold marginally well during the 1970s, and has since become an oft-reissued classic among subsequent generations of listeners. The following year, Harrison released An Evening with the Devil, recorded in January 1972. Thanks to their forward-looking compositions and arrangements, the album and the rest of the label's catalog have been reissued several times, as have Ranelin's The Time Is Now, Harold McKinney's Voices & Rhythms of the Creative Profile, Marcus Belgrave's Gemini II (all 1974) and Ranelin's Vibes from the Tribe (1976), which have been sampled often by hip-hop and electronic music producers.

The Tribe project ran its course and disbanded in 1976. Ranelin began working with Freddie Hubbard and moved to Los Angeles. In Detroit, Harrison played shows, formed his own bands, and continued in his role as an educator. He and McKinney co-founded Rebirth Inc. in 1978, an organization intended to foster young musicians. He'd also met jazz pianist, composer, and vocalist Pam Wise, who would soon become his wife and creative partner. Harrison founded the Wen-Ha label for his own projects and issued Dreams of a Love Supreme in 1980, performed by a big band. In 1981, Wen-Ha (featuring Harrison as producer, engineer, and saxophonist) released Reminiscing by bassist Reggie "ShooBeDo" Fields, who had played on several Tribe releases and performed with the Sun Ra Arkestra. The same year, Harrison issued Organic Dream, a decidedly more electric, contemporary jazz-funk outing that featured Wise on Rhodes piano and vocals along with Miche Braden.

By 1985, Rebirth Inc. had become a full-fledged arts organization. They produced jazz concerts, workshops, master classes, and interactive educational programs. Rebirth was also established by Harrison as a record label. His wonderfully funky, sleek, and soulful Birth of a Fossil marked its first release in 1985, and was followed a year later by Ranelin's Love Dream and his Reawakening, the latter a large group collaboration that also included Wise, McKinney, and noted vocalist Leon Thomas. The saxophonist issued "Wait" Broke the Wagon Down in 1987 and The Carnivorous Lady a year later.

The 1990s kicked off with Harrison's Forever Duke on the revived Wen-Ha in 1991. One of the saxophonist/clarinetist/producer's most highly regarded offerings, it included appearances by trumpeters Charles Tolliver and Rayse Biggs, and McKinney. He followed it a year later with Live in Concert: Featuring His 18 Piece Big Band and the Clarinet Ensemble (better known as Mama's Licking Stick Clarinet Ensemble). Among its participants were saxophonist/clarinetists James Carter and Vincent York, Belgrave, guitarist Ron English, and bassist Jaribu Shahid. The following year, Harrison and McKinney issued the acclaimed Something for Pops. Harrison's clarinet crusade continued on 1994's Rush & Hustle, which also included appearances by Carter.

In 1996, in response to input from beatheads, producers, and record collectors, England's Soul Jazz/Universal Sound label released the double-length compilation Message from the Tribe: An Anthology of Tribe Records: 1972-1977. It collected music from all nine Tribe label albums, and a glossy, miniature facsimile edition of Tribe magazine in a deluxe slipcase. The response was massive. The compilation was written about in virtually every major -- and many minor -- music publications, it was featured on European, Asian, and internet radio, and it sold briskly. Japan's P-Vine label followed with Vibes from the Tribe, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 in 1997. That same year, Harrison also appeared alongside McKinney, Belgrave, Donald Walden, Marion Hayden, and others on the all-star jazz showcase Michigan Masters: Urban Griots. In 1998, Harrison and saxophonist Eddie Harris released The Battle of the Tenors for Germany's Enja label to close out the 20th century.

In 2002, Harrison appeared (alongside Amp Fiddler) on rapper Proof's Electric Coolaid Acid Testing. That year, the saxophonist also released Eighth House: Riding with Pluto for local label Entropy Stereo Recordings. Unlike the rest of his discography, the set included only solo clarinet and saxophone pieces as well as a few duets in the company of master percussionist Jumma Santos. Harrison also released Urban Expressions in 2004, a collection of groove-laden originals and covers that included vocalist Jean Carn as a collaborator. The saxophonist joined Amp Fiddler's studio cast on Afro Strut and was featured on the duet and international hit single "If I Don't" with guest Corinne Bailey Rae.

Detroit electronic music producer, Planet E label boss, and DJ Carl Craig had been a longtime fan of the Tribe, and was only too aware of their international stature among record collectors and jazz and EDM fans. He enlisted Harrison to appear on his own Paris: Live album, then reengaged Belgrave as well. Craig formed a band of local and regional musicians who counted the Tribe a primary influence including Fiddler, Karriem Riggins, and the Motor City Horns. They recorded Tribe: Rebirth, issued in 2009 on Craig's fledgling Community Projects label, and took the group on tour. They performed as headliners at the annual Detroit Jazz Festival.

Harrison remained busy. In 2011 he released It's About Damn Time on Rebirth. Recorded with a quintet, the 21st century take on funky post-bop and groove-laden electric jazz included guest spots by drummer Gayelynn McKinney and Fiddler. The following year, Luv N' Haight-reissued Harrison's 1981 album Organic Dream.

In 2016, Harrison served as saxophonist and clarinetist in double bassist John Lindberg's BC3 to record the album Born in an Urban Ruin for CleanFeed. 2019 saw England's Strut/Art Yard labels team to release the Tribe compilation Hometown: Detroit Sessions 1990-2014. That same year, Harrison released a pair of digital-only comps: Post Bop Mix and Wendell's Orbit Mix.

In 2020, Harrison and Ranelin served as session players on Roy Ayers' inaugural volume on Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge's Jazz Is Dead label; and in 2021 Ranelin recorded Infinite Expressions under his own name. That same year, Harrison's lost 1975 album Farewell to the Welfare was rediscovered. Now-Again licensed it and sent the tapes to Bernie Grundman for mastering and lacquering. It was issued for the first time in a limited-edition deluxe package. In 2022, he released the current Get Up Off Your Knees, credited to The Wendell Harrison Tribe. Also that year, Ranelin and Harrison reunited with Muhammad, Younge, and drummer Greg Paul at Linear Labs Studios in L.A.'s Highland Park neighborhood. They cut seven original, co-written tunes, and issued them in January 2023 as Phil Ranelin and Wendell Harrison JID016. ~ Thom Jurek