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Jazz Articles about Gene Harris

Album Review

The Three Sounds: Groovin' Hard: Live At The Penthouse 1964-1968

Read "Groovin' Hard: Live At The Penthouse 1964-1968" reviewed by Stefano Merighi


Nell'alveo turbolento della musica afroamericana, scorre sottotraccia da più di mezzo secolo la corrente rapida e ridente del soul-jazz--che chiamiamo così solo per comodità -, di cui The Three Sounds sono stati alfieri indefessi per almeno tre lustri, vantando successi popolari da far invidia a colleghi ben più dotati nella sostanza musicale. Esce per i tipi della Resonance un'antologia di esibizioni dal vivo al Penthouse Jazz Club di Seattle, scelta tra apparizioni collocate tra il 1964 e il ...

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Album Review

The Three Sounds: Groovin' Hard: Live At The Penthouse 1964-1968

Read "Groovin' Hard: Live At The Penthouse 1964-1968" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


The old tapes hide in the archives, deep in the dark corners of record company closets, and even the occasional back yard tool shed--Hal Schaefer's How Do You Like this Piano Playing (Summit Records, 2009). Finding and bringing these lost treasures to the listening public seems to have turned into an industry of its own. And praise be the effort. The year 2016 alone saw the releases of newly discovered gems by pianists Bill Evans, with Some Other Time, (Resonance ...

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Album Review

Three Sounds: Groovin’ Hard - Live at the Penthouse 1964 - 1968

Read "Groovin’ Hard - Live at the Penthouse 1964 - 1968" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Pianist Gene Harris was a durable jazz force from the beginning of his career as leader of the soul-jazz trio, The Three Sounds in the mid-1950s until his death in 2000. He described himself as “a blues pianist with chops" and that is as good a description as can be had. He had a piano style full of Count Basie and seasoned with Art Tatum (never too much of the latter to make his playing sound superfluous of showy}}.

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Album Review

Gene Harris Quartet: Another Night In London

Read "Another Night In London" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Pianist Eric Reed once described Gene Harris (1933-2000) thusly, “Gene Harris = Power!" Harris often described himself as “a blues pianist with chops." And what chops those were. In his nearly 50- year career, Harris never veered from his soulful, blues-oriented approach to making music. If Bill Evans could be considered a master of the jazz ballad, then Harris was his counterpart in the sturdy 12-bar jazz mainstay. If music can smile, Gene Harris' would beam.

In 2008 Resonance Records ...

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Album Review

Gene Harris: Live in London

Read "Live in London" reviewed by Jim Santella


A never-before-release can be of great value or it can be entirely forgettable. This live session from London, featuring veteran pianist Gene Harris with a stellar quartet, stands with the former. It's a valuable watermark of his career that demonstrates the feeling that went into every performance and is what led sources such as the All Music Guide to label his style as soul-jazz. It's there for all to experience, and if one does not get to some foot-tapping and ...

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Album Review

Gene Harris: Live in London

Read "Live in London" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Gene Harris (1933-2000) was the master of blues in jazz. A self-proclaimed “blues pianist with chops," Harris could sting the most un-blues-like melody and make it sound like it was written by Meade Lux Lewis and performed by Oscar Peterson. Since Harris' death in 2000, posthumous releases of previously unreleased performances have been steady but sparse. These include: Live at Otter Crest (Concord Jazz, 2001), Instant Party (Concord Jazz, 2004), and now Live in London.

Documenting a 1996 ...

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Building a Jazz Library

Gene Harris

Read "Gene Harris" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Gene Harris (1933-2000) can safely be termed the most serious populist jazz musician to perform in the last 50 years. He is among the most accessible and amiable of jazz pianists, who focused his superior command of the blues and ballads to produce some of the most enduring and enlightening jazz music ever. For these reasons, Mr. Harris has been largely overlooked and underestimated as driving force in jazz. For the uninitiated, this driving force was God in Mr. Harris' ...


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