Joe Harriott
Encyclopedia
Joseph Arthurlin 'Joe' Harriott (July 15, 1928 in Kingston, Jamaica
– January 2, 1973 in Southampton
, Hampshire
) was a Jamaica
n jazz
musician and composer, whose principal instrument was the alto saxophone
.
Initially a bebop
per, he became a pioneer of free form jazz
. He was educated at Kingston's famed Alpha Boys School
, which produced a number of prominent Jamaican musicians. He moved to the UK
as a working musician in 1951 and lived in the country for the rest of his life. Harriott was part of a wave of Caribbean
jazz musicians who arrived in Britain during the 1950s, including Dizzy Reece
, Harold McNair
, Harry Beckett
and Wilton Gaynair
.
. He developed a style which fused Parker with his own Jamaican musical sensibility - most notably the mento
and calypso music
he grew up with. Even in his later experiments, his roots were always audible. However, it was Harriott's mastery of bebop which gained him immediate kudos within the British jazz scene upon his arrival in London in 1951.
During the 1950s, he had two long spells with drummer Tony Kinsey's
band, punctuated by membership of Ronnie Scott's
short lived big band, occasional spells leading his own quartet and working in the quartets of drummers Phil Seamen
and Allan Ganley
. He began recording under his own name in 1954, releasing a handful of E.P. (extended play) records for Columbia
, Pye/Nixa
and Melodisc throughout the 1950s. However, the majority of his 1950s recordings were as a sideman with the musicians previously mentioned, also backing a diverse array of performers from mainstream vocalist Lita Roza
to traditional trombonist George Chisholm
to the West African sounds of Buddy Pipp's Highlifers. He also appeared alongside visiting American musicians during this period, including a 'guest artist' slot on the Modern Jazz Quartet's
1959 UK tour. He formed his own quintet in 1958, and their style of hard swinging bebop was noticed in America, leading to the release of the Southern Horizons and Free Form albums on the American Jazzland label.
gave him time to think things over. At first he struggled to recruit other like-minded musicians to his vision. Indeed, two of his core band members, Harry South
and Hank Shaw
, left when these ideas surfaced. He finally settled on a line-up of Shake Keane
(trumpet, flugelhorn
), Pat Smythe
(piano), Coleridge Goode
(bass) and Phil Seamen
(drums). Les Condon temporarily replaced Keane on trumpet in 1961, while Seamen left permanently the same year, his place taken by the return of the quintet's previous drummer, Bobby Orr
.
Harriott's free form music is often compared to Ornette Coleman
's roughly contemporary breakthrough in the US, but even cursory listening reveals deep divisions between their conceptions of 'free jazz'. Indeed, there were several distinctive models of early free jazz, from Cecil Taylor
to Sun Ra
. Harriott's was another of these. His method demanded more complete group improvisation than displayed in Coleman's music, and often featured no particular soloist. Instead of the steady pulse of Ornette's drummer and bass player, Harriott's model demanded constant dialogue between musicians which created an ever shifting soundscape. Tempo, key and meter always free to alter in this music, and often did so. The presence of Bill Evans
-inspired pianist Pat Smythe also gave the band a completely different texture to Coleman's, which by then had dispensed with the need for a pianist. Harriott's own playing style underwent some changes during this period, dispensing with orthodox bebop lines in favour of more angular, cut up phrasing. What remained however, was his lyricism, searing tone and sense of attack.
Harriott was always keen to communicate his ideas, be it on stage, in interviews or album liner notes. In 1962, he wrote in the liner notes for his Abstract album, "of the various components comprising jazz today - constant time signatures, a steady four-four tempo, themes and predictable harmonic variations, fixed division of the chorus by bar lines and so on, we aim to retain at least one in each piece. But we may well, if the mood seems to us to demand it, dispense with all the others".
He recorded three albums in this vein, Free Form (Jazzland 1960), Abstract (Columbia (UK) 1962) and Movement (Columbia (UK) 1963). Abstract received a five star review from Harvey Pekar
in Down Beat
, the first such honour for a British Jazz record. Free Form and Abstract together formed a perfect pair of cohesive, trailblazing free jazz sessions. The next album, Movement, featured some of his most fiercely abstract compositions, but these were tempered by some other, more straight ahead pieces.
play, Blithe Spirit
. However, the continuing hostility of the older British jazz establishment to free form, and the drying up of recording and performance opportunities, saw Harriott's quintet cease to be sustainable in the changing musical climate of mid-1960s Britain. The quintet effectively broke up when Shake Keane moved to Germany in 1965. From this point onwards, Harriott worked freelance on a number of projects.
He made several albums and EPs with pianist/composer Michael Garrick
in the mid-sixties, notably Promises, October Woman and Black Marigolds. The latter two were reissued by Dutton Vocalion on CD in 2005, and Garrick's Poetry and Jazz In Concert albums (which also featured Harriott) were released on CD by the same label in 2006. Another notable recording as a sideman was with the great bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson II
, on a 1964 session which also featured Jimmy Page
.
During the late 1960s he and violinist John Mayer
developed Indo-Jazz Fusion - an early attempt at building on music from diverse traditions. This involved a 'double quintet' of five Indian and five jazz musicians playing together on a number of compositions largely conceived by Mayer. Opinion is divided on the success of these experiments. At their best, they offered a new and unique fusion of styles, but at times one can also detect a restriction on the freedom of the jazzmen to improvise. Three albums resulted from the collaboration with Mayer: Indo Jazz Suite (Atlantic 1966) Indo Jazz Fusions Volume 1 and 2 (Columbia (UK) 1967 and 1968).
Two other Harriott albums appeared in 1967 and 1968. The first, Swings High (Melodisc) was a strangely retrospective sounding, but outstanding bebop record featuring old cohorts Seamen, Goode and Smythe. 1968's Personal Portrait (Columbia) was a mixed bag of jazz with strings and some affecting work with old bandmate Smythe and Stan Tracey
.
In 1969, Harriott recorded the album Hum-Dono in collaboration with the Goanese guitarist Amancio D'Silva
. This was an unqualified success. Also featuring trumpeter Ian Carr
and vocalist Norma Winstone
, this album presented a more subtle and fluid mix of Harriott's signature alto sound with D'Silva's unique Indo-bebop guitar style.
Also in 1969, Harriott made an appearance at Stan Tracey
's Duke Ellington
tribute concert, which was also released as the album We Love You Madly on Columbia. He contributed a moving solo on 'In a Sentimental Mood' which was captured for posterity by TV cameras, thus leaving the only existing footage of Harriott in performance. He also made an important contribution to composer Laurie Johnson
's 1970 LP Synthesis (also Columbia).
churchyard, in Southampton
. On his gravestone, his own oft-quoted words provide his epitaph. "Parker? There's them over here can play a few aces too".
, Evan Parker
and Albert Mangelsdorff
, in the States his profile and influence was much smaller, despite the admiration of such figures as Charles Mingus
. He also suffered mightily from lazy journalistic comparisons with Ornette Coleman, but more recently his originality has been recognised across the globe. American saxophonist Ken Vandermark
's CD of Harriott free form compositions, entitled Straight Lines, has introduced his music to another generation of free jazz fans. British players such as Courtney Pine
, Gary Crosby
and more recently Soweto Kinch
have also acknowledged his influence and played his music on stage. An important biography by Alan Robertson, as well as the publication of Coleridge Goode's poignant reminiscences of him, have helped to make his story more widely known.
Harriott's profile has also been helped by the appearance of some albums on CD, notably Abstract and Free Form. However, some important albums such as Movement, High Spirits and Hum-Dono have yet to be reissued. In recent years, other recordings of Harriott in his prime have surfaced. Michael Garrick
has compiled and released a CD on his own Jazz Academy label, entitled Genius. This consists of some early 1960s live performances and home recordings made with a pianist friend, William Haig-Joyce. In 2006, a 1963 live recording made at a small club in Leicester
was unearthed and issued on CD, entitled Live At Harry's. In early 2007, many of his hard-to-find mid 1950s sessions, both as leader and sideman, were made available on the double CD compilation Killer Joe.
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
– January 2, 1973 in Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
) was a Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician and composer, whose principal instrument was the alto saxophone
Alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
.
Initially a bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
per, he became a pioneer of free form jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
. He was educated at Kingston's famed Alpha Boys School
Alpha Boys School
Alpha Cottage School is a school on South Camp Road in Kingston, Jamaica, run by Roman Catholic nuns...
, which produced a number of prominent Jamaican musicians. He moved to the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
as a working musician in 1951 and lived in the country for the rest of his life. Harriott was part of a wave of Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
jazz musicians who arrived in Britain during the 1950s, including Dizzy Reece
Dizzy Reece
Alphonso Son "Dizzy" Reece is a hard bop jazz trumpeter with a distinctive sound and compositional style.Reece was born 5 January 1931 in Kingston, Jamaica, the son of a silent film pianist. He attended the Alpha Boys School , switching from baritone to trumpet at 14...
, Harold McNair
Harold McNair
Harold McNair was a renowned saxophonist and flautist.-Background:...
, Harry Beckett
Harry Beckett
Harold Winston "Harry" Beckett was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player.-Biography:A resident in the UK since 1954, Harry Beckett had an international reputation. In 1961, he played with Charles Mingus in the film All Night Long. In the 1960s he worked and recorded within the band of bass...
and Wilton Gaynair
Wilton Gaynair
Wilton 'Bogey' Gaynair was a jazz musician, whose primary instrument was the tenor saxophone...
.
Early career
Like the majority of alto players of his generation, Harriott was deeply influenced by Charlie ParkerCharlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
. He developed a style which fused Parker with his own Jamaican musical sensibility - most notably the mento
Mento
Mento is a style of Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It has its roots in calypso and other Jamaican folk music. Mento typically features acoustic instruments, such as acoustic guitar, banjo, hand drums, and the rhumba box — a large mbira in the...
and calypso music
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
he grew up with. Even in his later experiments, his roots were always audible. However, it was Harriott's mastery of bebop which gained him immediate kudos within the British jazz scene upon his arrival in London in 1951.
During the 1950s, he had two long spells with drummer Tony Kinsey's
Tony Kinsey
Cyril Anthony 'Tony' Kinsey is an English jazz drummer and composer.Kinsey held jobs on trans-Atlantic ships while young, studying while at port with Bill West in New York City and with local musician Tommy Webster in Birmingham. He had a close association with Ronnie Ball early in his life; the...
band, punctuated by membership of Ronnie Scott's
Ronnie Scott
Ronnie Scott was an English jazz tenor saxophonist and jazz club owner.-Life and career:Ronnie Scott was born in Aldgate, east London, into a family of Russian Jewish descent on his father's side, and Portuguese antecedents on his mother's. Scott began playing in small jazz clubs at the age of...
short lived big band, occasional spells leading his own quartet and working in the quartets of drummers Phil Seamen
Phil Seamen
Phillip William "Phil" Seamen was an English jazz drummer.With a solid background in big band music, Seamen played and recorded in a wide range of musical contexts with virtually every key figure of 1950s and 1960s British jazz...
and Allan Ganley
Allan Ganley
Allan Ganley was a respected English jazz drummer and arranger, who played with many famous names....
. He began recording under his own name in 1954, releasing a handful of E.P. (extended play) records for Columbia
Columbia Graphophone Company
The Columbia Graphophone Company was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Under EMI, as Columbia Records, it became a very successful label in the 1950s and 1960s...
, Pye/Nixa
Pye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
and Melodisc throughout the 1950s. However, the majority of his 1950s recordings were as a sideman with the musicians previously mentioned, also backing a diverse array of performers from mainstream vocalist Lita Roza
Lita Roza
Lita Roza was a British singer. Her 1953 number one hit record " That Doggie in the Window?" afforded Roza the privilege of being the first British female singer to top the UK Singles Chart, and the first Liverpudlian to do so.-Biography:Born Lilian Patricia Lita Roza in Liverpool, Lancashire,...
to traditional trombonist George Chisholm
George Chisholm (musician)
George Chisholm OBE was a Scottish jazz trombonist.Born in Glasgow to a family of musicians, Chisholm's musical career began in the Glasgow Playhouse orchestra. In the late 1930s he moved to London, where he played in dance bands led by Bert Ambrose and Teddy Joyce...
to the West African sounds of Buddy Pipp's Highlifers. He also appeared alongside visiting American musicians during this period, including a 'guest artist' slot on the Modern Jazz Quartet's
Modern Jazz Quartet
The Modern Jazz Quartet was established in 1952 by Milt Jackson , John Lewis , Percy Heath , and Kenny Clarke . Connie Kay replaced Clarke in 1955...
1959 UK tour. He formed his own quintet in 1958, and their style of hard swinging bebop was noticed in America, leading to the release of the Southern Horizons and Free Form albums on the American Jazzland label.
Free form innovator
By now firmly established as an outstanding bebop soloist, in 1960 Harriott turned to what he termed "abstract" or "free form" music. He had been toying with some loose free form ideas since the mid 1950s, but finally settled upon his conception in 1959, after a protracted spell in hospital with tuberculosisTuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
gave him time to think things over. At first he struggled to recruit other like-minded musicians to his vision. Indeed, two of his core band members, Harry South
Harry South
Harry South was an English jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, who later moved into work for film and television....
and Hank Shaw
Hank Shaw
Henry Shalofsky, better known as Hank Shaw was an English bebop jazz trumpeter.Shaw played with Teddy Foster's band during World War II at the age of 15...
, left when these ideas surfaced. He finally settled on a line-up of Shake Keane
Shake Keane
Ellsworth McGranahan “Shake” Keane was a jazz musician, poet and government minister...
(trumpet, flugelhorn
Flugelhorn
The flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
), Pat Smythe
Pat Smythe (pianist)
Patrick Mungo Smythe was a jazz pianist who rose to prominence as a member of the Joe Harriott Quintet during the 1960s.-Early life:...
(piano), Coleridge Goode
Coleridge Goode
Coleridge George Emerson Goode is a former British Jamaican-born jazz bassist most noteworthy for his long collaboration with alto saxophonist Joe Harriott. Goode was a key figure in Harriott's innovatory jazz quintet throughout its eight year existence as a regular unit...
(bass) and Phil Seamen
Phil Seamen
Phillip William "Phil" Seamen was an English jazz drummer.With a solid background in big band music, Seamen played and recorded in a wide range of musical contexts with virtually every key figure of 1950s and 1960s British jazz...
(drums). Les Condon temporarily replaced Keane on trumpet in 1961, while Seamen left permanently the same year, his place taken by the return of the quintet's previous drummer, Bobby Orr
Bobby Orr (drummer)
Bobby Orr is a jazz drummer and session musician.In the 1950s and 1960s, he was a fixture on the London jazz scene, principally as a founder member of Joe Harriott's quintet...
.
Harriott's free form music is often compared to Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
's roughly contemporary breakthrough in the US, but even cursory listening reveals deep divisions between their conceptions of 'free jazz'. Indeed, there were several distinctive models of early free jazz, from Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
to Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...
. Harriott's was another of these. His method demanded more complete group improvisation than displayed in Coleman's music, and often featured no particular soloist. Instead of the steady pulse of Ornette's drummer and bass player, Harriott's model demanded constant dialogue between musicians which created an ever shifting soundscape. Tempo, key and meter always free to alter in this music, and often did so. The presence of Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
-inspired pianist Pat Smythe also gave the band a completely different texture to Coleman's, which by then had dispensed with the need for a pianist. Harriott's own playing style underwent some changes during this period, dispensing with orthodox bebop lines in favour of more angular, cut up phrasing. What remained however, was his lyricism, searing tone and sense of attack.
Harriott was always keen to communicate his ideas, be it on stage, in interviews or album liner notes. In 1962, he wrote in the liner notes for his Abstract album, "of the various components comprising jazz today - constant time signatures, a steady four-four tempo, themes and predictable harmonic variations, fixed division of the chorus by bar lines and so on, we aim to retain at least one in each piece. But we may well, if the mood seems to us to demand it, dispense with all the others".
He recorded three albums in this vein, Free Form (Jazzland 1960), Abstract (Columbia (UK) 1962) and Movement (Columbia (UK) 1963). Abstract received a five star review from Harvey Pekar
Harvey Pekar
Harvey Lawrence Pekar was an American underground comic book writer, music critic and media personality, best known for his autobiographical American Splendor comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a critically acclaimed film adaptation of the same name.Pekar described American Splendor as "an...
in Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
, the first such honour for a British Jazz record. Free Form and Abstract together formed a perfect pair of cohesive, trailblazing free jazz sessions. The next album, Movement, featured some of his most fiercely abstract compositions, but these were tempered by some other, more straight ahead pieces.
Jazz fusions
Harriott's free form compositions normally formed only a portion of live gigs. Indeed, the final album recorded by the quintet, 1964's High Spirits (Columbia), was a straight ahead jazz interpretation of compositions from the musical of that name, which was based on the Noel CowardNoël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
play, Blithe Spirit
Blithe Spirit (play)
Blithe Spirit is a comic play written by Noël Coward which takes its title from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "To a Skylark" . The play concerns socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati, to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to...
. However, the continuing hostility of the older British jazz establishment to free form, and the drying up of recording and performance opportunities, saw Harriott's quintet cease to be sustainable in the changing musical climate of mid-1960s Britain. The quintet effectively broke up when Shake Keane moved to Germany in 1965. From this point onwards, Harriott worked freelance on a number of projects.
He made several albums and EPs with pianist/composer Michael Garrick
Michael Garrick
Michael Garrick MBE was an English jazz pianist and composer, and a pioneer in mixing jazz with poetry recitations.-Biography:...
in the mid-sixties, notably Promises, October Woman and Black Marigolds. The latter two were reissued by Dutton Vocalion on CD in 2005, and Garrick's Poetry and Jazz In Concert albums (which also featured Harriott) were released on CD by the same label in 2006. Another notable recording as a sideman was with the great bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson II
Sonny Boy Williamson II
Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...
, on a 1964 session which also featured Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
.
During the late 1960s he and violinist John Mayer
John Mayer (composer)
John Mayer was an Indian composer known primarily for his fusions of jazz with Indian music...
developed Indo-Jazz Fusion - an early attempt at building on music from diverse traditions. This involved a 'double quintet' of five Indian and five jazz musicians playing together on a number of compositions largely conceived by Mayer. Opinion is divided on the success of these experiments. At their best, they offered a new and unique fusion of styles, but at times one can also detect a restriction on the freedom of the jazzmen to improvise. Three albums resulted from the collaboration with Mayer: Indo Jazz Suite (Atlantic 1966) Indo Jazz Fusions Volume 1 and 2 (Columbia (UK) 1967 and 1968).
Two other Harriott albums appeared in 1967 and 1968. The first, Swings High (Melodisc) was a strangely retrospective sounding, but outstanding bebop record featuring old cohorts Seamen, Goode and Smythe. 1968's Personal Portrait (Columbia) was a mixed bag of jazz with strings and some affecting work with old bandmate Smythe and Stan Tracey
Stan Tracey
Stanley William Tracey CBE is a British jazz pianist and composer, most influenced by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk.-Early career:...
.
In 1969, Harriott recorded the album Hum-Dono in collaboration with the Goanese guitarist Amancio D'Silva
Amancio D'Silva
Amancio D'Silva was an Indian-born jazz guitarist and composer, known for his own recordings and his collaborations with other musicians in Britain, notably Joe Harriott and Stan Tracey.-Life:...
. This was an unqualified success. Also featuring trumpeter Ian Carr
Ian Carr
Ian Carr was a Scottish jazz musician, composer, writer, and educator.-Early years:Carr was born in Dumfries, Scotland, the elder brother of Mike Carr...
and vocalist Norma Winstone
Norma Winstone
Norma Ann Winstone MBE is a British jazz singer and lyricist. In a career spanning over forty years she is best known for her wordless improvisations....
, this album presented a more subtle and fluid mix of Harriott's signature alto sound with D'Silva's unique Indo-bebop guitar style.
Also in 1969, Harriott made an appearance at Stan Tracey
Stan Tracey
Stanley William Tracey CBE is a British jazz pianist and composer, most influenced by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk.-Early career:...
's Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
tribute concert, which was also released as the album We Love You Madly on Columbia. He contributed a moving solo on 'In a Sentimental Mood' which was captured for posterity by TV cameras, thus leaving the only existing footage of Harriott in performance. He also made an important contribution to composer Laurie Johnson
Laurie Johnson
Laurie Johnson is an English film and television composer, and bandleader.-Career:...
's 1970 LP Synthesis (also Columbia).
Last years
His work in 1969 was to be the last substantial performances of Harriott's career. While he continued to play around Britain wherever he was welcome, no further recording opportunities arose. He was virtually destitute in his last years, and ravaged by illness. He died of cancer on January 2, 1973, and is buried in BitterneBitterne
Bitterne is an eastern suburb and Electoral Ward of Southampton, England.Bitterne derives its name not from the similarly named bird, the Bittern but from the bend in the River Itchen; the Old English words byht and ærn together mean "house near a bend", most likely a reference to Bitterne Manor...
churchyard, in Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
. On his gravestone, his own oft-quoted words provide his epitaph. "Parker? There's them over here can play a few aces too".
Legacy
Since his death, Harriott's often overlooked contribution to the birth of free jazz has gradually been recognised. While he influenced important European free jazz pioneers such as John StevensJohn Stevens (drummer)
John William Stevens was an English drummer. He was one of the most significant figures in early free improvisation, and a founding member of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble .-Biography:Stevens was born in Brentford, the son of a tap dancer...
, Evan Parker
Evan Parker
Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
and Albert Mangelsdorff
Albert Mangelsdorff
Albert Mangelsdorff was one of the most accredited and innovative trombonists of modern jazz who became famous for his distinctive technique of playing multiphonics.-Biography:...
, in the States his profile and influence was much smaller, despite the admiration of such figures as Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
. He also suffered mightily from lazy journalistic comparisons with Ornette Coleman, but more recently his originality has been recognised across the globe. American saxophonist Ken Vandermark
Ken Vandermark
Ken Vandermark is an American jazz composer and saxophone and clarinet player.A fixture on the Chicago-area music scene since the 1990s, Vandermark has earned wide critical praise for his playing and his multilayered compositions, which typically balance intricate orchestration with passionate...
's CD of Harriott free form compositions, entitled Straight Lines, has introduced his music to another generation of free jazz fans. British players such as Courtney Pine
Courtney Pine
Courtney Pine CBE is an English jazz musician. At school he studied the clarinet, although he is known primarily for his saxophone playing. Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also playing the flute, clarinet, bass Clarinet and keyboards...
, Gary Crosby
Gary Crosby (bassist)
Gary Crosby OBE is a jazz double bassist, music arranger, educator and Executive Artistic Director of...
and more recently Soweto Kinch
Soweto Kinch
Soweto Kinch is a British jazz alto saxophonist and rapper.Born in London, England to a Barbadian father, who is a playwright, and British-Jamaican mother, who is an actress, Kinch began playing saxophone at the age of nine after learning clarinet at Allfarthing Primary School, Wandsworth, SW London...
have also acknowledged his influence and played his music on stage. An important biography by Alan Robertson, as well as the publication of Coleridge Goode's poignant reminiscences of him, have helped to make his story more widely known.
Harriott's profile has also been helped by the appearance of some albums on CD, notably Abstract and Free Form. However, some important albums such as Movement, High Spirits and Hum-Dono have yet to be reissued. In recent years, other recordings of Harriott in his prime have surfaced. Michael Garrick
Michael Garrick
Michael Garrick MBE was an English jazz pianist and composer, and a pioneer in mixing jazz with poetry recitations.-Biography:...
has compiled and released a CD on his own Jazz Academy label, entitled Genius. This consists of some early 1960s live performances and home recordings made with a pianist friend, William Haig-Joyce. In 2006, a 1963 live recording made at a small club in Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
was unearthed and issued on CD, entitled Live At Harry's. In early 2007, many of his hard-to-find mid 1950s sessions, both as leader and sideman, were made available on the double CD compilation Killer Joe.
EPs as leader
- Cool Jazz With Joe (Melodisc UK, 1954)
- No Strings (Pye Nixa UK, 1956)
- Joe Harriott Quartet (Columbia UK, 1956)
- Joe Harriott With Strings (Jazz Today UK, 1956)
- Blue Harriott (Columbia UK, 1959)
- A Guy Called Joe (Columbia UK, 1960)
Albums as leader or co-leader
- Southern Horizons (Jazzland US, 1960)
- Free Form (Jazzland US & UK, 1960)
- Abstract (Columbia UK & Capitol US, 1962)
- Movement (Columbia UK, 1963)
- High Spirits (Columbia UK, 1964)
- Indo Jazz Suite - with John Mayer (Columbia UK & Atlantic US, 1966)
- Swings High (Melodisc UK, 1967)
- Indo Jazz Fusions - with John Mayer (Columbia UK & Atlantic US, 1967)
- Indo Jazz Fusions II - with John Mayer (Columbia UK, 1968)
- Personal Portrait (Columbia UK, 1968)
- Hum-Dono - with Amancio D'Silva (Columbia UK, 1969)
- Live at Harry's 1963 (Rare Music UK, 2006)
Compilation albums
- Joe Harriott Memorial (EMI One Up UK, 1973)
- Genius (Jazz Academy UK, 2001)
- Killer Joe: Birth Of A Legend (Giant Steps UK, 2007)
- Joe Harriott with the Tony Kinsey Trio: Jump For Me (Esquire UK, compilation of 1954 recordings)
Significant album and EP appearances as sideman
- George Chisholm: Chis (Decca UK, 1956)
- Tony Kinsey: A 'Jazz at the Flamingo' Session (Decca UK, 1957)
- Allan Ganley: Gone Ganley (Pye Nixa UK, 1957)
- Lita Roza: Listening in the After-Hours (Decca UK, 1957)
- Al Fairweather: Al's Pals (Columbia UK, 1959)
- Don Carlos: Crazy Latin (Columbia, UK 1960)
- Shake Keane: In My Condition (Columbia, UK 1961)
- Jeremy Robson: Blues For The Lonely (Columbia UK, 1962)
- Sonny Boy Williamson: Don't Send Me No Flowers (Marmalade UK, 1964)
- Michael Garrick: Poetry & Jazz In Concert (Argo UK, 1965)
- Michael Garrick: Anthem/Wedding Hymn (Argo UK, 1965)
- Jeremy Robson: Before Night/Day (Argo UK, 1965)
- Michael Garrick: October Woman (Argo UK, 1965)
- Michael Garrick: Promises (Argo UK, 1966)
- Michael Garrick: Black Marigolds (Argo UK, 1966)
- The Nice: Five Bridges (Charisma UK, 1969)
- Stan Tracey Big Brass: We Love You Madly (Columbia UK, 1969)
- Laurie Johnson: Synthesis (Columbia UK, 1970)
External links
- Joe Harriott at the British Bebop website (includes complete sessionography)
- Free Form and Abstract albums article at All About JazzAll About JazzAll About Jazz is a leading jazz music website for enthusiasts and industry professionals based in Philadelphia in the United States.Founded by Michael Ricci in 1995, the Web-Site is maintained by a volunteer staff of writers, editors, and musicians, and provides coverage of all genres of jazz from...
- Alpha Boys School alumni
- Indo-Jazz Fusions