CD1
1. Stompin' at the Savoy
2. Moonglow
3. Cherokee
4. Out of Nowhere
5. Ethyl
6. Possessed
7. Perdido
8. I Can't Get Started
9. Dreaming
10. K. C. Shuffle
11. Ivanhoe
12. Lover
13. Spring
14. Baker's Dozen
15. Golden Sunset
16. Honeysuckle Rose
17. Midnight Blue
18. Yesterdays
19. The Harris Touch
20. All the Things You Are
21. 'S Wonderful
22. Sometimes I'm Happy
23. Rock Bottom Blues
24. The Man I Love
CD2
1. Lullaby of Birdland
2. Blue Angel
3. The Song Is You
4. Daahoud
5. Ethyl
6. Wind Song
7. Ol Man River
8. Once in a While
9. Poinciana [Song of the Tree]
10. Concerto for Jazz Guitar (Your Majesty)
11. Jordu
12. Lover
13. All the Things You Are
14. Poinciana [Song of the Tree]
15. Well You Needn t
16. "Intaglio Monk", Parts 1 & 2
17. Stompin' at the Savoy
18. Possessed
19. Cherokee
20. The Song Is You
21. Where Is Big Joe Williams Blues
22. Ethyl
Bill Harris (guitar); with Hank Jones (piano, celesta): bass, drums,
bongos on CD1, tracks 14-24
Recorded 1956-62
[61:10 + 67:18]
Bill Harris – the guitarist not the trombonist – was born in 1925 and came to prominence with a series of LPs in the later 1950s. This twofer distils the
essence of those earlier discs as soloist and leader. The first is just called ‘Bill Harris’, appropriately so as he plays solo, the second is called ‘The
Harris Touch’ and sees him accompanied by Hank Jones and uncredited rhythm players including a regrettable virtuoso of the bongos. LP number three is
‘Great Guitar Sounds’, solo once again, whilst ‘Caught in the Act’ is from a live solo recital in Washington in 1962.
Harris is an easy swinger and his lexicon of influences is rather wider than the average player at the time. It’s clear that he admired Segovia and the
Iberianism that so infused Segovia’s playing and repertoire is evoked here, from time to time (try Moonglow) His unamplified Tatay guitar is heard
to real advantage on this first side, where he can simulate a walking bass and keep the melody line going. Chordal patterns are distinctive, his tremolandi
articulate, and his cultivation of some Albéniz-like moves adds to the Spanish tinge – though one that may prove rather off-putting to those versed on
Charlie Christian’s lexicon of licks. Harris, though, is a distinctive player, albeit uneven and sometimes decidedly lightweight. Baker’s Dozen is
a very obvious Boogie workout and K.C Shuffle flatters to deceive – there are no echoes of the great powerhouse days of Kansas bands.
Hank Jones isn’t stretched too far in his role with the now amplified Harris. It was something of a mistake, I feel, for the articulate Jones to get busy
with a celesta, a well-known mire for some jazz pianists of the time. It sounds insipid and indeed half-hearted. Very occasionally Harris echoes Django, as
on The Man I Love, but it’s not a strong or pervasive influence. For ‘Great Guitar Sounds’ we start revisiting earlier tracks – his reprise of Ethyl, for instance. Once in a While is a flippant performance and given the short track lengths – many hover around the two-minute mark
– there’s not much time for Harris to recover. The final LP, live, allows him to stretch out strategically on a few tracks. His murmuring obbligato is
certainly a nuisance but more so is the way he sometimes gets bogged down, as he does on Intaglio Monk, Parts 1 and 2. Again he reprises
favourites from the other albums – Ethyl once again, Possessed and Cherokee amongst them.
More a colourist than a fluent improviser, Harris often offers sonically interesting sides. The effect, cumulatively, of these early albums, however, is of
a short-breathed performer caught in a stylistic no-man’s land.
Jonathan Woolf
CD Reviews
FRESH SOUNDS FSR-CD 792
