Hidden Story of an Underrated Jazz Pianist Barry Harris
I think Barry Harris is a great jazz pianist but...he is somehow underrated...
He is one of the few jazz musicians who lived the golden jazz era, be bop and hard bop era and just died recently.
He played with Miles Davis in the early 50's. He also played with Charlie Parker in the 50's as well.
Obviously he inherited the Bud Powell style as a pianist.
He made his 1st leader album on Argo - Brealin' It Up in the late 50's and 6 albums on Riverside in the 60's.
I think all are great albums BUT...they were not selling good.
One of the legendary jazz critics in Japan, Yozo Iwanani discovered the greatness of Barry Harris and used to go see him playing at a dirty, old bar in New York in the early 70's. He recalls in the liner notes of Barry Harris At Jazzworkshop Riverside VIJ Series by Victor Music Japan,
The bar he was playing is old and dirty...and packed with drunken men and women, some are pimps or prostitutes making noise. But Barry seemed not caring those guys and just playing his piano. The piano was an old, upright piano too. Because of the noise, you can not hear the sound of the piano. So, I used to sit on the nearest seat to listen to Barry.
Later on, Yozo Iwanami approached Victor to reissue these great albums he made on Riverside.
Back in those days in the early 70's or even 60's, jazz was no longer popular in the US. But here in Japan, jazz was really HOT!! reissuing many, many, great jazz albums on Blue Note, Prestige, Riverside and so on as you know.
Originals of these great albums are hard to get, but thank to these jazz critics and lovers in Japan! Because of them, we can acquire and afford these great jazz albums, right?
