Monday, November 2, 2009

Eddie HARRIS & Les McCANN - Second Movement 1971


Eddie HARRIS & Les McCANN - Second Movement 1971

Jazz

Tenor sax great Eddie Harris and keyboardist Les McCann worked together on the classic jazz crossover album Swiss Movement, which contained the hit "Compared to What?" Their follow-up recording, Second Movement, however, never made it to CD. Producer Joel Dorn created Label M in order to bring this album and other neglected gems from the Atlantic Records catalog to a new audience. Harris's urgent tenor wailings mesh with funky rhythms and background vocals to give Second Movement a sanctified, churchlike feeling throughout. Combined with McCann's gospel-tinged singing on "Set Us Free" and "Universal Prisoner," the music attempts to deal with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and jazz's waning audience. McCann's Fender Rhodes piano and the rhythm & blues underpinnings, however, serve mainly to give the music a '70's funk feel, when jazz was crossing over into rock territory. Given the rise of jam-band jazz, it seems that the Second Movement's second coming has arrived at just the right time.
By Wally Shoup.
**
In the 60s, jazz had two seperate streams flowing into the same river: free jazz and soul jazz. Idiotically, critics took sides, as if both these types of beautiful music were mutually exclusive. Tonight's card, Jimmy Smith vs. Cecil Taylor, 15 rounds. Then again, in those days, everything was polorized. Music, like hair and dress, was politics.

This is fortunately no longer the case, and if you like soul jazz, look no further than this album. McCann and Harris create a tight, rocking R&B that is both danceable and ellgent. This is not a organ romp one off, but polished, well-composed music with outstanding players. Grit and gloss to every note. Great vocals.

It also works as an album. There is not a sliver of filler on here.
If you like soul jazz, buy this. Then again, if you like free jazz, buy this.
By  William R. Nicholas.
**
It's hard to argue with the simmering instrumental "Shorty Rides Again," for example. Harris's percolating sax riffs keep the tune soaring over a punchy guitar/bass/drums rhythm that would make the JB's proud. McCann's takes a turn on vocals ...    Full Descriptionwith the lush, ballad-like "Universal Prisoner" and the head-nodding "Carry On Brother," both of which deal with pressing social issues of racial and economic inequality. The record's final two tracks, "Set Us Free" and "Samia," mine smooth, fusion-flavored pulses, with notable playing by Harris on each. Overlooked soul-jazz outings such as this are the subject of album-collecting dreams.

In the late 1960s and early '70s, many diehard jazz fans turned their noses up at soul-jazz experiments, as formerly straight-ahead jazz musicians began fusing bop with funk and R&B. In hindsight, however, it is clear that these musicians were ahead of the curve with their adventurous, accessible fusions. As on their hugely popular first collaboration, SWISS MOVEMENT, tenor man Eddie Harris and keyboardist/vocalist Les McCann generate some truly irresistible grooves on SECOND MOVEMENT,
blurring the line between jazz, R&B, funk, and pop.
From CD Universe.
**
Eddie Harris- (Sax);
Les McCann- (Piano);
Cissy Houston- (Vocals).
**
01. Shorty Rides Again
02. Universal Prisoner
03. Carry on Brother
04. Set Us Free
05. Samia
**
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