Groovin 'Hard: Live at The Penthouse 1964–1968
| Groovin 'Hard: Live at The Penthouse 1964–1968 | ||||
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| Live album by The Three Sounds featuring Gene Harris | ||||
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| Label (s) | Resonance Records | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD, download |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
51:26 |
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Groovin 'Hard: Live at The Penthouse 1964–1968 is a jazz album by The Three Sounds featuring Gene Harris , which was recorded from 1964 to 1968 at The Penthouse jazz club in Seattle and released in 2016 on Resonance Records , on November 25, 2016 as vinyl Release and on January 13, 2017 on CD and digital formats.
background
The Three Sounds , led by pianist Gene Harris, was one of the outstanding piano trios for soul jazz from the mid-1950s to the 1960s . In its heyday, The Three Sounds was one of the best-selling jazz acts in the world between 1958 and 1962, with a number of hit records on Blue Note Records ; In fact, no other Blue Note artist sold as many records as The Three Sounds during this period . After leaving Blue Note, the Three Sounds also made a number of critically acclaimed, best-selling albums for Verve, Mercury, Limelight, and other labels. The connection between Resonance Records and the Three Sounds goes back to the childhood of the label founder George Klabin. Klabin says: “When I was 13 I fell in love with modern jazz . One of the first jazz groups I discovered was the Three Sounds with pianist Gene Harris. I bought a lot of their records and kept listening to them to the point where I could play them in my head. The Three Sounds were my introduction to bluesy , funky style jazz, and I've really appreciated them and have been collecting their recordings ever since. "
It is therefore not surprising that Resonance's first release in the 2000s was the discovery and release of archival recordings with two Gene Harris albums, Live in London (made in 2001) and Another Night in London (2006). These two albums were released after Gene Harris' widow Janie, who knew how much George Klabin loved the Three Sounds, sent copies of the tapes to Klabin. Shortly after the release of Live in London , producers Zev Feldman and George Klabin began in earnest to intensify and publish the search for previously unreleased archive material from top jazz artists. During this project, Klabin met with Jim Wilke , a Seattle-based jazz radio personality, record producer, and recording engineer. Wilke had amassed a large library of tapes of top jazz artists performing live in the Penthouse in the 1960s, recorded during live broadcasts of his KING FM radio show, Jazz from The Penthouse . Fifty years later, Wilke is still active in the field of jazz radio and live recordings on site. He estimates that he has recorded and produced well over a thousand recordings in clubs, concerts and festivals. When Klabin learned of the existence of this extraordinary penthouse library due to his affinity for the Three Sounds , he immediately became aware of the various recordings of the group that Wilke had preserved for posterity. Klabin decided that the first track Resonance would bring out of this archive would be this album Groovin'Hard: Live at The Penthouse 1964-1968 .
The material selected by George Klabin on this album consists of jazz standards : ("Bluesette", "The Night Has Thousand Eyes" and "Yours Is My Heart Alone"); soulful interpretations of hits of the day (“ The Shadow of Your Smile ”, “Girl's Talk” and the film theme “Caesar and Cleopatra”) as well as the original compositions “Blue Gene”, “Rat Down Front” and “The Boogaloo”. The repertoire is supplemented by Ray Brown's jazz waltz "AM Blues". Four of the tracks from the album's repertoire were not released on any other Three Sounds album: "The Shadow of Your Smile", "Rat Down Front", "Bluesette" and "The Boogaloo".
Groovin 'Hard consists of ten pieces selected from Jim Wilke's weekly shows and three editions of the trio (with drummers Bill Dowdy, Kalil Madi and with Carl Burnett , who would later play with Art Pepper ) of the Three Sounds in four separate concerts in 1964, 1966 and 1968 before the club closed. The edition is complemented by a 28-page booklet with photos and essays by Resonance producers Zev Feldman and George Klabin, Jim Wilke and jazz journalist Ted Panken .
Track list
- The Three Sounds Featuring Gene Harris: Groovin 'Hard: Live at The Penthouse 1964-1968 (Resonance Records - HLP-9025, HCD 2025)
- Girl Talk ( Neal Hefti ) 6:23
- The Night Has a Thousand Eyes ( Buddy Bernier / Jerome Brainin ) 5:49
- Blue Genes (Harris) 3:10
- The Shadow of Your Smile ( Johnny Mandel / Paul Francis Webster ) 6:55
- Rat Down Front (Harris) 2:25
- Yours Is My Heart Alone ( Franz Lehár , Fritz Löhner-Beda ) 7:50
- AM Blues ( Ray Brown , Seymour Lefco ) 4:09
- Bluesette ( Norman Gimbel / Toots Thielemans ) 6:48
- Caesar and Cleopatra (Film Theme) ( Alex North ) 4:57
- The Boogaloo (Harris) 2:44
Chronology of the penthouse sessions
- Gene Harris, Andrew Simpkins, Bill Dowdy - Feb 20, 1964 ( Blue Genes, Rat Down Front, Bluesette )
- Gene Harris, Andrew Simpkins, Kalil Madi - June 23, 1966 ( The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, The Boogaloo )
- Gene Harris, Andrew Simpkins, Kalil Madi - Jun 30, 1966 ( AM Blues )
- Gene Harris, Andrew Simpkins, Carl Burnett - Aug 23, 1968 ( Girl Talk, The Shadow of Your Smile, Yours Is My Heart Alone )
reception
Dan McClenaghan wrote in All Bout Jazz that Groovin 'Hard compares well to the best of The Three Sounds discography - “Consistency was a big thing with Harris. Consistency and joy in creation. He sounds like a born entertainer, someone who lived to give people what they wanted to hear. ”According to the author, Harris had a flair for bringing a deep soul feeling into the musical process, with an exuberant one Trust in his art. The recording was “another nice discovery. Kudos to Resonance Records for putting it in the spotlight . ”Also in All About Jazz, C. Michael Bailey noted,“ Harris had a muscular, hard-hitting piano style that brought Red Garland's block chord playing to its logical conclusion. This style is very evident in these recordings. With his mastery of the blues , Harris was able to infuse even the most unlikely compositions with the strength and tenacity of the genre, without ever taking anything away from the original songs. Groovin 'Hard opens with a solid' Girl Talk 'showing Harris' command of the trio format. This is evidenced by precisely crafted percussive punctuations in the bridge , reminiscent of the trio empathy that Bill Evans achieved at the beginning of the decade. ”“ The Night Has Thousand Eyes ”begins with a calming samba rhythm, which after the appearance of a Kalil Madi's drum finally turns into soul jazz. Bassist Andy Simpkins is “consistently amazing, no matter who plays the drums. But here Gene Harris is the center of the universe ... fitting. "
Thomas Conrad wrote in JazzTimes : “Sometimes you feel closer to certain smaller artists than mighty giants. [...] Gene Harris wasn't Keith Jarrett , but as Resonance producer Zev Feldman says, "he played for the people". His music was warm, approachable, life-affirming, and soaked in blues. His swing was bulletproof. ”“ You don't hear piano trios like this anymore, ”Conrad continued. “Blue Genes” keeps rolling like a train. All hooks, vamps and tags are reminiscent of another well-known pianist of the time, Ahmad Jamal. Harris was much funkier, but like Ahmad Jamal , he often arranged songs for small concerts. Every section of "The Night Has Thousand Eyes" is carefully calibrated before the song breaks out in pure joy. “The Shadow of Your Smile” is a soulful gliding flight that rises in resounding crescendos . "Yours Is My Heart Alone" is tough (but stylish) romance.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b C. Michael Bailey: Three Sounds: Groovin 'Hard - Live at the Penthouse 1964 - 1968. All About Jazz, January 11, 2017, accessed on March 29, 2019 .
- ↑ Discographic information at Discogs
- ↑ Discographic information at Discogs
- ↑ The Three Sounds: Groovin 'Hard: Live At The Penthouse 1964-1968. All About Jazz, January 18, 2017, accessed March 29, 2019 .
- ^ Thomas Conrad, The Three Sounds: Groovin 'Hard: Live at the Penthouse 1964-1968 (Resonance). JazzTimes, April 4, 2017, accessed March 29, 2019 .