As soon as describing himself as “a blues piano player with chops,” Gene Harris rose to fame because the flamboyant, nimble-fingered chief of The three Sounds, a well-liked soul jazz trio who lower 17 persistently sensible albums for Blue Notice Data between 1958 and 1969. Such was their success that the trio landed one among their LPs – 1968’s Elegant Soul – on the US Jazz and R&B Albums charts. Nevertheless, the group dissolved with the arrival of the Nineteen Seventies, which witnessed the speedy decline of straight-ahead jazz’s recognition. Staying with Blue Notice, Harris elected to pursue a solo profession that noticed him widen his musical horizons in 1975 with the cosmic-themed Astral Sign. On this bold confection, he expanded his tonal palette past the trio format by including lead and background vocals along with an array of synthesizers, horns, electrical guitar, and percussion.
Harris was born Eugene Haire in Benton Harbor, Michigan, in 1933. Fascinated by the boogie-woogie piano music of Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons as a teenager, Harris discovered to play by ear at age 9. After honing his piano abilities within the US navy with the 82nd Airborne Division Band, he returned residence in 1956 to type The 4 Sounds, which slimmed right down to turn into The three Sounds comprising Harris with bassist Andrew Simpkins and drummer Invoice Dowdy. A transfer to New York in 1958 resulted within the trio signing with Blue Notice Data and producing a succession of high quality albums together with Bottoms Up!, Blue Hour (with saxophonist Stanley Turrentine), and Right here We Come. The trio’s accessible mix of bluesy exhausting bop improv fused with toe-tapping, soul-jazz grooves shortly made The three Sounds one among Blue Notice’s hottest acts.
Take heed to Gene Harris’s Astral Sign now.
Quick forwarding to 1975, Astral Sign with its fusion taste appeared a world away from Harris’ virtuosic piano exploits in The three Sounds. His musical armory now included electrical keyboards, like synthesizers and the Fender Rhodes piano, which introduced a distinctly modern vibe to the proceedings. Harris’ transformation from a standard acoustic pianist into an ultra-modern multi-keyboard warrior stemmed from an intuition for musical survival in a world the place straight-ahead jazz now not appeared related. Like his fellow soul jazz pianist Les McCann, Harris reinvented himself for a youthful viewers, yet another open to the ideas of fusion and musical cross-pollination.
Harris additionally surrounded himself with musicians with pronounced R&B connections; like New Orleans-born pianist Jerry Peters – famend for his work with The Buddies Of Distinction, Isaac Hayes, and Jerry Butler – who produced the album, along with the prolific bass supremo Chuck Rainey (whose credit ranged from Aretha Franklin to Steely Dan) and former Head Hunters sticks man Harvey Mason.
Opening Astral Sign with an intro comprised of otherworldly sound results, Harris then spoke to his listeners straight, welcoming them to “a universe of love, beauty, and other funky things” earlier than getting the LP underway with a haunting revamp of singer Bobby Goldsboro’s 1973 smash “Summer (The First Time).” It was the primary of 4 pop hits to obtain a radical Harris makeover on the album, the others being Creedence Clearwater Revival’s stomping “Green River,” Chicago Transit Authority’s “Beginnings” (on which Harris sang lead vocals for the primary time in his recording profession) and Sly & The Household Stone’s provocative Black Energy anthem, “Don’t Call Me N***er, Whitey,” pushed by a squelchy synth bass. Additionally noteworthy had been “Roots,” a gospel-shaded piano blues – the closest Harris received to The three Sounds by way of model – and the much-sampled “Losalamitoslatinfunklovesong” and “Feeling You, Feeling Me Too!,” each mellow grooves occupying related musical terrain to the Donald Byrd and Bobbi Humphrey Blue Notice albums masterminded by Larry Mizell’s Sky Excessive Productions throughout the identical timeframe.
Combining a loved-up cosmic consciousness with the panoramic sonic sweep of a big canvas strategy, Astral Sign was essentially the most bold album of Gene Harris’ storied profession. Although it wasn’t an enormous business success, its sample-friendly sounds later influenced hip-hop acts like Compton’s Most Wished, Jermaine Dupri, and Freddie Gibbs, serving to to introduce Gene Harris to a brand new technology of listeners.
Take heed to Gene Harris’s Astral Sign now.
