Jazz Articles about Billy Harper

Billy Harper: Blueprints of Jazz, Vol. 2

by George Kanzler
December 13, 2009

Tenor saxophonist Billy Harper has been keeping the jazz fires kindled by the ritualistic, incantatory side of the classic John Coltrane Quartet stoked and burning bright for over a quarter-century. Here Harper's working quintet, augmented by a second bassist, presents a program redolent of the processional and the chant. Over it all, Harper's coruscating, brawny tenor strides like a colossus (only Sonny Rollins may have a richer, fuller tone) with a charged intensity matching the roiling, loping, massed rhythms of ...

Mike Clark, Billy Harper, Donald Bailey: Blueprints of Jazz

by Woodrow Wilkins
November 14, 2008

Three discs, three creative artists, one concept--Blueprints of Jazz presents some of jazz music's eminently worthy but less widely known innovators. Tenor saxophonist Billy Harper and drummers Mike Clark and Donald Bailey have been fixtures on the jazz scene from 1950s through the 1970s, and they still produce fresh sounds.

Mike Clark Blueprints of Jazz, Volume 1 Talking House Records 2008

Mike Clark is probably best known for his work ...

Billy Harper

by Russ Musto
March 22, 2007

Billy Harper has one of the most impressive resumes in jazz, including stints with Gil Evans, Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, Max Roach, Lee Morgan, Thad Jones-Mel Lewis, Charles Tolliver and Randy Weston, but it is his unique sound on the tenor and distinctive style as a composer that has brought him international acclaim and truly sets him apart from most other players.

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Charles Earland: Intensity

by AAJ Staff
September 1, 1999

You hear it at once: a different sound, not always for the better. The music was changing, and Charles Earland joined his easy groove to the lush CTI sound so popular at the time. Results vary: the Burner is hot but too many horns spoil the brew. Take “Goin' Home": a rock guitar crashes through the left speaker, and Charles steps coolly behind him. Now he works the chords for warm strength: the feel of his Black Talk! album. But ...

Charles Earland: Intensity

by Douglas Payne
August 1, 1999

For 1972's Intensity, Charles Earland's fifth of ten Prestige discs, the Mighty Burner seemed to be aiming toward something a little different than his usual collection of soulful tenor-organ jams. The presence of two songs from the rock group Chicago and a small trumpet-dominated horn section indicate that jazz-rock was the goal. The result, the LP's four original tracks plus two tracks from the same date originally released as part of Charles III, is one of his very best.