Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » The Three Sounds: Babe's Blues

110

The Three Sounds: Babe's Blues

By

View read count
The Three Sounds: Babe's Blues
Bravo for pianist Gene Harris, who seems to have recently and belatedly been discovered. After churning out dozens of fine records in the 1960s for Blue Note, Verve, Mercury and Limelight, then drowning in funk and disco records in the 1970s, he finally gave it all up and retired to Idaho. Bassist Ray Brown coaxed him back into playing in the mid 1980s and the two formed a terrific group that recorded frequently for the Concord label.

Since then, Harris has steadily been putting out a variety of first-rate discs with his own quartet, featuring the guitar handiwork of Ron Eschete. His latest on Concord, It's The Real Soul says it all. Like Joe Henderson, he's doing what he's always done best. It's just the rest of the world finally started paying attention. Babe's Blues is from the Three Sounds, the Harris trio that made many fine records from 1958 through about 1968. It's one of those treats that's been collecting dust in Blue Note's warehouse since it was recorded 8/31/61 (the same session that yielded the group's Hey There ). The title track — a classy Monk-blues crash typical of early Randy Weston (the song's composer) — was recorded 3/8/62, the same date which also provided tracks for the group's Black Orchid and Out of This World (both available on Japanese CD). Harris, aided by smooth, sympathetic bassist Andy Simpkins and subtle drummer Bill Dowdy, are in top form here, like a hip hotel lounge band with a wicked sense of the blues. Harris plumbs his specialty throughout, wresting the blues out of even the most mundane of tunes. The trio works the blues into well-worn standards like "Shiny Stockings," "Stairway to the Stars" and "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea," and gives the gospel good time to "Babe's Blues," Ernest Tubbs' (!) "Walking the Floor Over You" and Nat Adderley's "Work Song." Those who marveled at Ray Charles' country-and-western renditions a full year later would have been mightly pleased with how Harris and company twisted the jazz out of the country.

Personnel

Album information

Title: Babe's Blues | Year Released: 1997 | Record Label: Blue Note Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.