Eddie Harris (1933-1996) was an amazing saxophonist and musician, an inventor and innovator, an educator, a savvy and successful businessman, a masterful performer, a fierce individualist, and a true smooth jazz saxophone pioneer.
Eddie Harris is not a super-famous sax man. He’s not someone that gets mentioned a lot when you ask sax players who they listen to or are influenced by.
But when you consider his career and his achievements, and the pervasive influence of his style and technological innovations, it becomes clear that Eddie Harris was a major force in the evolution of jazz/funk/blues fusion music, i.e., the forerunner of smooth jazz.
Here’s a quote from an article about Eddie Harris at the Ubiquity Records website:
In the course of recording more than 70 albums and CD’s, and the author of seven (7) music books, Eddie has displayed himself as a jazz artist who has played blues, rock, jazz fusion, straight-ahead, soul and funk grooves. Eddie’s pioneering work in musical electronics and the effective conjunction of different elements of blues, rhythm and blues, jazz and funk has had widespread influence of what is generally considered today’s music. Eddie’s music has been sampled by over 30 artists including: Macy Gray, Jamiroquai, DJ Jazz Jeff, Heavy D and the Fresh Prince.
Note the reference to the ‘effective conjunction of different elements of blues, rhythm and blues, jazz and funk’. That’s smooth jazz, man!
And from the Eddie Harris website:
Eddie’s pioneering work in musical electronics and the effective conjunction of different elements of blues, rhythm and blues, jazz and funk has had widespread influence of what is generally considered today’s music. Eddie’s music has been sampled by over 30 artists including: Macy Gray, Jamiroquai, DJ Jazz Jeff, Heavy D and the Fresh Prince.
‘…widespread influence of what is generally considered today’s music.’ Again, that’s referring to smooth jazz.
To be precise, Eddie Harris recorded 76 albums. Three of his albums, including his very first release, Exodus To Jazz, were certified gold (over one million copies sold). I guarantee this album was being heard in every household in the country back in the mid-60′s. His composition, Freedom Jazz Dance, was recorded by Miles Davis, and subsequently became a jazz standard. He wrote most of the music heard on The Bill Cosby Show.
One of the most interesting things about Eddie Harris’ career was his work as an inventor and innovator. Among his many innovations (including the reed mouthpiece for the trumpet, coronet, trombone and flugelhorn) was the use of the Varitone, which was, in effect, an electric pickup for the saxophone.
His use of the Varitone can be heard prominently on many of his recordings, including one his most popular hits, Listen Here, from his album The Electrifying Eddie Harris. You can hear the electricified quality, and especially the doubled lower octave, on this excerpt from Listen Here, recorded in 1967:
Finally, Eddie Harris was a fierce individualist. He followed his heart wherever it led him. He was often villified by critics, first for his commercial success (they thought he was selling out) and later for his forays into funk and electronics.
Eddie Harris, a true smooth jazz saxophone pioneer.
This photo, from 1951, captures the essence of the ecstasy of a true saxual healing. Check out those dudes in the front row. What a scream! I’ve got to try that – laying on my back and playing.
That’s one of my missions in life: the inspire that kind of feeling.
Photo by Bob Willoughby.
