u/GoodGoodNotTooBad

In recent months I’ve made myself more interested in Chicago-born artists and/or live albums that were recorded in the city. At the Pershing: But Not for Me from the brilliant Ahmad Jamal and Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase led by Joe Henderson have both been consuming a lot of my mindspace lately, but I’ve also wanted to devote additional time and attention to Eddie Harris, who until recently is someone I have criminally overlooked.

The liner notes for Excursions, a gorgeous fatefold, were written by Harry Abraham of WHAM in Rochester, N.Y., who died in 2009. He provided a perfect primer for where Harris was early in his career following the 1960s hit “Exodus,” which was drawn from Ernest Gold and the movie, and “Freedom Jazz Dance,” which first appeared on Harris’s The In Sound and later appeared on Miles Davis’s Miles Smiles in the late 1960s.

Harris, according to Abraham, had been given a gift as well as a curse early on in his career because he “found himself pigeonholed as a pretty ballad player.” When Harris tried to push against that with albums like The Electrifying Eddie Harris, a new problem emerged: “He was now cast purely as a funk player. I have seen more than one promoter grimace and mutter under his breath when Eddie now digs into his bag of electronic sounds.”

Later in the notes Abraham provides more insight into Harris’s thinking: “Eddie’s philosophy is that it’s good to have hits as long as you don’t let them stifle you as an artist.” He goes on to quote Harris himself: “You want to make money to feed the family, but you don’t want people to know it.”

With that said, I think it’s time to go track-by-track with some personal observations in conjunction with Abraham’s notes. Forgive me in advance though because I’m certainly not an expert.

Side One:

“Drunk Man” is a really interesting opener and experiment. Harris sings through his horn and electronic attachments and he leaves me with a bluesy feel. In general, it seemed like it was ready-made for a film. It goes away fairly quickly and I wouldn’t have minded a few more minutes of it.

“Renovated Rhythm” is a sweet sounding cut powered by Harris’s electrified sax. It’s an instant head nod for sure and it’s also a direction shift following the opener, which hints that this album will not try to sound like one particular moment. In Abraham’s notes, he highlights the contributions of Ronald Muldrow on the electric guitar and Larry Nash on electric piano. I think everyone did fantastic here including Rufus Reid on bass and Leon “Ndugu” Chancler on the drums.

“Inapplicable Concord” sounds a bit bigger and brassier. It’s not my favorite on the album but I think it’s just another way for Harris to show off that no two songs here will sound the exact same. I must say that I ended up liking Eddie’s solo the most.

“Listen Here Goes Funky” is really interesting as a case study. Abraham’s commentary was surrounded by those previous quotes I used in my opener about commercialism. Eddie’s quoted as saying that he’d performed at clubs where people came to hear his hits but were too drunk to know where the washroom was. Abraham analyzed: “The ‘washroom’ analogy refers to those people who have never been to a jazz club before but, by virtue of owning one Eddie Harris album, are jazz fans. Dave Brubeck, Ramsey Lewis and Les McCann have experienced the same syndrome.” Abraham further implies that the final track on Side One is included here to appease the dancing crowd who wants something a little less difficult. I don’t think he meant that in a derogatory way, but was just trying to tell it like it is. All in all I like this one in the context of the album, which is clearly a showcase for Harris and company to keep changing up their sound. It’s not a piece I’d listen to in isolation, but I enjoy it for what it is.

Side Two:

“Turbulence” is the longest piece on the album at more than 16 minutes. The composition is credited to everyone who performed it. Abraham writes that it covers “most of the bases … in Eddie’s mind” and ranges from mainstream jazz to funk to the avant-garde. Abraham specifically highlights Richard Abrams on the electric piano, and Abrams is a co-founder of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. A few minutes into the piece we get the mainstream side, but there’s a really cool moment after the first shift where the beat just breaks down even further into a funk and becomes this incredibly infectious groove that I could imagine James Brown singing on. I’m not so sure if it’s my favorite track overall, but it has a strong case to eventually wear the crown.

“Of Age” has the honor of being the shortest piece on the album, which is suitable for the vinyl space and one’s ability to consume so much great music back to back to back. I think Harris and company felt we needed a break. In my personal opinion this one is quite moody but not overly moody if that makes sense. It’s just another one I can attempt to get lost in depending on my mood.

Side Three:

“Fragmentary Apparitions” kicks off the third side. Billy Howell plays the trombone here and Abraham noted that Howell was a former trumpet player whose right hand became paralyzed and that forced him to switch instruments. At the time of Excursions, he was playing in Curtis Mayfield’s band and “seems to appreciate the opportunity to be really heard in this setting.” I’m glad he got the chance to slide over those sweet keys by Nash. Overall this one is 10 minutes long so really you can just sit with it and have a really good time listening. I really like how Chancler handled the drums. (One thing I just realized is maybe it seems like I don’t have enough good things to say about Harris’s playing, but really I am enjoying his contributions. It’s just that I’m also noticing other things.)

“Hey Wado” became another fixation for Abraham about when and where something was recorded. I think he was just in awe of how Eddie chose to experiment. In my view, this is the least adventurous of all the tracks here but I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. I like the bass playing here by none other than Ron Carter.

“Aleph The Fool” changes the lineup for a quartet that includes Jodie Christian on piano, Melvin Jackson on bass, and Richard Smith on drums. Abraham writes: “Over the rich bed laid down by the trio, Eddie is playing literal cascades of notes, perhaps giving us some insight into what Trane might have sounded like had he lived longer and used the electric sax that Eddie told me he had purchased, but never used publicly.”

Side Four:

“Recess” marks Ron Carter’s second and final appearance on the album. It’s interesting to me how the album started off with several different explosions in experimentation and eventually fell back into what for me is very nice but more conventional playing. I will say that a bass solo towards the end of this piece was used in a rap song I really like by Busta Rhymes. It has Dilla’s feel all over it, and it just shows that he really sat there and listened to all his records all the way through because I think it’s something many producers would easily miss.

“I’m Lonely” is quite romantic and melancholy. The piano playing by Christian would sound really really nice in the club. I like how Eddie stepped into it with his whining and I also enjoyed the repetitive ticking of the drums by Smith.

“Oleo” closes out the project. I think it’s an interesting ending. All throughout the album Eddie has shown us that he can do whatever he damn well pleases, so why not end with a standard? I plan to spend more time with “Oleo,” eventually, when I re-listen to Relaxin’ from Miles Davis. Anyway, back to Eddie, it seems to say “What more can you want from me? I’ve given you every sound that I’ve got and some!” In reply I’d tell him that all I want to do is spend more time with the catalog.

Closing:

All in all I hope you give this album a shot if you haven’t already. If you’re interested in this record or other albums by Harris, feel free to lend me your opinions! I’m just trying to spread the love of music and I don’t have friends who I can nerd out with this much.

P.S. As an aside I have Mighty Like a Rose, Silver Cycles, Is It In and The Exciting Eddie Harris that I’ll get to eventually. My bigger project lately is anything related to Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner and Ahmad Jamal. The Chicago-related stuff on its own is my secondary project and I’m excited to eventually dive further into Henry Threadgill and Anthony Braxton, even if I’m a bit frightened by their respective rabbit holes. Other projects for me include anything related to Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane, and Bennie Maupin. Additionals: Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham, Grant Green, Freddie Hubbard, and Bobby Hutcherson. My other side is George Duke, who I recently realized did a lot of what Thundercat is doing. My other other side is Charles Mingus, who I want to love more but it just hasn’t clicked yet, but maybe it will eventually.

Here's the YouTube post from that day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiTfMeDsFbw

I thought this podcast-journalist's reaction was interesting:

"If I were a reporter The New York Times I'd be furious about the opinion section giving David Ellison space to say what he wants, unchecked, about his media deals and their effect on American journalism -- while in news story after news story, Ellison has refused to talk to the paper...I want to hear from Ellison -- but in an interview with an independent journalist, not a crafted essay with no pushback."