The Jazz Culture Feature
Barry Harris Trio with Leroy Williams, drums and Ray Drummond, bass at the Village Vanguard
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BARRY HARRIS TRIO, LEROY WILLIAMS, DRUMS, RAY DRUMMOND, BASS
by. L. Hamanaka Caught the Barry Harris Trio at the Village Vanguard on Wednesday, May 22, 2013, with Barry Harris, piano, Leroy Williams, drums, and Ray Drummond, bass. Dr. Harris kicked off by asking three audience members for three numbers that would correspond to notes of the scale, and got 7, 2, and 3, which he promptly made into a motif for a song, using “5, 5, 5” on the bridge of a groovy bossa nova. They then played “There’ll Never Be Another You,” (Harry Warren, Mack Gordon) at around 138=quarter note, starting with mellow chording of his own brand, Dr. Harris accenting the “+” of 2 and 4, concisely, adding elegance to his lines by 16th note triplets, and surprising wide intervallic breaks in his improvisation, with subtle references to the melody. Mr. Drummond’s touch seems to get lighter and he added more scalar runs, always retaining the sweetness of tone he is noted for; and Mr. Williams added refined brushwork complementing the soloists. Dr. Harris’s legato is so smooth that at times he does not seem to be playing the piano, but as Ari Roland put it, who sat nearby, sounds “like a singer.” The trio then played “I Want To Be Happy,” (Victor Youmans, Irving Caesar) at about 300=quarter note, Dr. Harris enjoys playing faster than almost anybody else around wants to these days. He takes one melodic idea, reverses, all the while using the chromatic scale probably more than anyone else extant. Williams let loose with controlled and spirited solo, exciting the audience with use of all registers of the drums, and there are a lot of registers in the drum set. Interesting that the sprightly filigree top of improvisation by Dr. Harris and the “biff-boom-bah!” of the drums go so well together, a study in contrasts and because they have played together so long. 2
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Dr. Harris's class at a community center near Lincoln Center; in photo, Lafayette Harris, Michael Weiss, Yoko, Richard Clemens, Ilya Lushtak
Starting rubato and alone, Dr. Harris gave a ballad rendition of “It Could Happen to You,” (Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke) ethereally voiced, every pulse heartfelt when the bass and drums joined in at a slow swing of 126=quarter note, Dr. Harris seemed to push out the boundaries of the song and express his thoughts about how romance could be, leading to an octave tremolo in the left hand and chord cadenza in the right. Dr. Harris then played a bop rendition of “Like Someone in Love,” (Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke) one of his favorite standards, in a boppish version, wringing as much out of the scale as possible, in effortless lines leading to pivot notes, all subservient to the feeling behind the melodic lines. The bass solo was relaxed so that the audience laughed along with the bass player, who showed his maturity by pausing between phrases, and both Dr. Harris and Mr. Williams threw in Monkish phrases, with The Jazz Culture, VII:55
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an elbow to create tone clusters on the piano. An excellent slow blues player, Dr. Harris then revealed the poetry of the slow blues, doing a lot of wide intervals, Mr. Drummond playing a bass line that sounded cavernous in depth, while the audience, listened in hushed respect. “Pannonica” written by Monk for their long time roommate, led Dr. Harris to tell a story about how he was once playing this song, and a butterfly came and hovered over the piano, and then departed as soon as the song was over. Dr. Harris played a Monk medley, following with “Light Blue,” a beautiful and short impressionistic standard by Monk, in his modern vein using the chromatic and 7th scales. The Trio then took off on “Off Minor,” another Monk standard, at about 143=quarter note, all discovering many melodic possibilities, and at the same time, discovering themselves, and as so often has been the case, making this terse, angular song expand with the humanity of improvisation. Dr. Harris, taught the audience his favorite line of the lyric of “The Best Thing for You Would Be Me,” (Jerome Kern) …”myself and I seem to agree,” did the song in Eb, at about 145=quarter note. Other tunes they played were “Lullaby in Birdland,” (George Shearing) harkening back to the days when Dr. Harris would go hear Bird and Bud, at a brisk and snappy pace, (about 145=quarter note) with mellow intriguing color in his middle register, bringing back the verve of the golden age of jazz. Ray Drummond played a long, assertive and pretty solo, sometimes using 11 note motifs, playing loosely and with perfectly placed phrases. Leroy Williams played this one with sticks, and fired the group ahead, creating a lush environment similar to Billy Higgins. Another song, “In the Still of the Night,” (Cole Porter) at about 300=quarter note, which Dr. Harris said was “Too fast” –but after he finished it, had the impression of sweeping lyric lines, that were 4
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luminescent, and evoked romance in the dark night to listeners. A beautiful rendition of “Yesterdays,” (Jerome Kern, Otto Harbach) followed, with unique voicings, coloring purple, maroon, midnight blue, chordal passages, about 76=quarter note, mysteriously rendered and subtly shaded dynamically, showing Dr. Harris’s tonal palette to become more unique the longer he plays. They then segued into “Night in Tunesia,” by Dizzy Gillespie, Dr. Harris playing brilliant cadenzas in the break, with chromatic runs, supported by the bassist and drummer in an ode to the bop scene. The bassist achieved oneness with his instrument, and the drummer’s solo was powerful and melodic. The pianist played lines like a shimmering river of sound. They then played “All God’s Children Got Rhythm” (Walter Jurhman, Bronislaw Kaper, Gus Kahn) about 250=quarter note, perhaps recognizing the international crowd of students that follow Dr. Harris around the world. Other notable performances included “Oo-Bop-Shebam” by Dizzy, about 106=quarter note, which Dr. Harris taught to the audience with all its long pearly lines of 16th note triplets, with innovations on the use of the chromatic scale, taking up the standard of masters of the chromatic scale from Walter Davis and extending it, and “Cherokee” (Ray Noble) at 300=quarter note. The trio careened through the changes, a sort of pledge of allegiance to bebop, by Dr. Harris, whose fingerless technique allows him the virtuosity that made Bird fly, including a thrilling solo by Mr. Williams, which brought out the “Cherokee” in “Cherokee.” One rare standard they did play, in a debate about titles that ensued was the charming “Buttercup” (Tony Macaulay, Michael d’Abo) before taking on “Parisian Thoroughfare” (Bud Powell) the way it should be played, so that you can feel the sunshine of a Parisian boulevard, and speaking the intricate and bejeweled language of bop with complete fluency, before topping it off with “Nasciamento,” Dr. Harris’s theme song that he wrote for a bassist who died young. The Jazz Culture, VII:55
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Clockwise: Prince, The Lushtaks, Richard Clemens and Michael Weiss, Ari Roland, and Dr. Harris signing autographs while LaLa watches
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