Published on Dec 27, 2000
I’d like to break from the traditional review we run here for a
minute or two, and share a brief story with you. (Hey, indulge
me… it’s my friggin’
birthday, for Crissakes.)
When I was about three years old, I was given a 45 – from my
parents or from my aunt, I can’t remember. Supposedly, when
“Children’s Song” was put on my little record player, I would
happily bounce around to the strange yet wonderful noises coming
from the record. Much to my surprise, when I was preparing to move
from my parents’ home to my first rat-hole apartment, I found that
record, and it still played.
I probably spent the next five years searching for the album it
came from –
Live At Newport by Eddie Harris. My daughter happened to be
bouncing off the walls one day when we still lived in our last
apartment, so I started to play some 45s for her, to no avail.
Then, I put “Children’s Song” on for her – and she stopped dead in
her tracks, sat there, and listened to the entire song. It was a
wonderful moment.
About ten months ago, I
finally located a copy of
Live At Newport, and won the eBay auction for it. Much to my
surprise, I found out the version of “Children’s Song” I had grown
up listening to was an edited version. It took me a long time to
get used to the original version that Harris played at the Newport
Jazz Festival in 1970, but nowadays, even the original version can
make me cry. (I still have the original 45, and I treat it with kid
gloves. I don’t know how it’s survived this long without me
breaking it on accident, and I’m not about to get careless
now.)
Side note: I found out the day I wrote this review that
Live At Newport is now available again, paired up with
Harris’s 1971 release
Instant Death. Where was this information five years ago,
huh?!?
I tell this story because this is one of the earliest memories I
have when music was an important part of my life – and I’m in a
reminiscing mood today, so why not? Plus, it gives me a great
lead-in to the review of
Live At Newport, which, I’m sorry to say, isn’t the easiest
album to get hooked into.
Harris might have been dwarfed in popularity by Miles Davis
around this time, but both men were essentially doing the same
thing in jazz, albeit on different roads. Both were working
elements of funk into their music, though Harris seemed to want to
preserve a more natural sound to his style, as evidenced on “Carry
On Brother”. There was also an element of gospel-like protest,
heard on “Silent Majority” (featuring guest vocals by Eugene
McDaniels, the song’s writer) which challenged the audience to not
accept the status quo.
But on some of the spacier moments, as heard on “Walk Soft” and
“Don’t You Know The Future’s In Space,” Harris and his bandmates
seem to be aimlessly drifting. Yes, I know that such music is
actually very carefully crafted, and I don’t want to belittle that
skill (which I know I could never do). But often, it doesn’t sound
like a natural flow as much free-form jazz has.
I still have some very fond memories of “Children’s Song” which
will never be dulled, and I have no regrets about adding
Live At Newport to my collection. I guess I also shouldn’t
be surprised that the album didn’t live up to the expectations I
had harbored all these years. I guess something you wait that long
for never does match up to how you imagine it.
2000 Christopher Thelen and “The Daily Vault”. All rights
reserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without
written permission.