Joel Harrison is a stylistically flexible guitarist whose compositions also knock down walls labeled jazz, rock or classical. But that could be said of a lot of guitarists working now. There’s Bill Frisell, John Scofield and Pat Metheny, to name just a few of the high- profile players. If the guitarist hasn’t stolen the spotlight from the saxophonist or pianist, he certainly demands equal time.
“A lot of people my age took up the guitar as their vehicle of choice because it was so prevalent in society when we were growing up,” said Harrison, who is scheduled to perform in two area venues Saturday and April 29. “There was Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and George Harrison. It was almost impossible to avoid.”
Harrison the Beatle meant so much to the younger Harrison (no relation) that he recorded an entire tribute album to him in 2005, “Harrison on Harrison.” Those who never considered the improvisational potential of “Taxman” or “Here Comes the Sun” will be startled by the possibilities.
On his new CD, Harrison mines his own compositions on “Harbor” (High Note), featuring tracks that shift from placid balladry to rampaging rock/funk turbulence. You could file “Harbor” under jazz mainly because there’s plenty of space allowed for discoveries by the players, especially saxophonist David Binney, whose long-term musical relationship with Harrison means he’s comfortable taking chances. But “Harbor” is a collection of hybrid music.
“One of my important goals is to write music for jazz ensembles that is substantial, not just a melody that is used as a vehicle for improvisation. I want to always try to take listeners on a journey. Any good piece of music has that sense of drama built into it.”
Another unclassifiable but exceptional musician, Boulder pianist Art Lande, will be joining Harrison’s traveling group for both area performances in what Harrison has billed the End Time Quintet.
“This will be the first time I’ve ever played with Art,” Harrison said of the upcoming shows. “He’s one of the great piano players of what I guess you might call ‘modern jazz.”‘
Modern jazz is as good a term as any to describe what Harrison and his contemporaries are doing, with both words holding equal (and considerable) weight.
Joel Harrison’s End Time Quintet, 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday, Dazzle, 930 Lincoln St.; $13; 303-839-5100. Also 7:30 p.m. April 29, Nissi’s, 2675 North Park Drive, Lafayette; $9; 303-665-2757.
Chu on this
There are so many marginalized figures in the 90-year history of sonically preserved jazz (a 1917 session by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band is generally agreed upon as the first commercially released jazz recording), it’s always cause for celebration whenever an underrecognized innovator gets his or her due. Today it’s time to revel in the saxophonic bursts of joy supplied in the ’30s by Leon “Chu” Berry.
The seven-disc “Classic Chu Berry Columbia and Victor Sessions” (Mosiac) doesn’t cover every note he committed to wax before his tragic death in 1941 at the age of 31, but it does pull together the significant solos under his own leadership, as well as those with central figures of the day, including Lionel Hampton and Cab Calloway.
Berry’s technical abilities were on par with his better- recognized contemporaries Ben Webster, Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins, but his hearty solos had their own sped-up, harmonically sophisticated logic. And no matter where you track his considerable growth as a player over the eight years covered here, he always projected a sense of humor and exhilaration that makes the difference between his time and our time evaporate.
These CDs make up the first comprehensive collection of Berry’s recordings, and represent what is apparently the only domestically available set of his swinging outbursts. Since Sony currently oversees the rights to both the Columbia and Victor tapes, it would be consumer- friendly of them to boil down the choicest material here to a single-disc set. But don’t hold your breath, just visit mosaic records.com to hear samples and perhaps take the $119 plunge.
Around town
The Columbine High School Jazz Squad plays Dazzle on Monday … Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts holds its annual “Jazz-o-Rama” on Wednesday at the Ramada Continental Hotel, Speer Boulevard and Zuni Street. Find out more at jazzarts.org … Virtuoso bassist Victor Wooten will blow minds at the Fox Theatre on Thursday … This year’s 5 Points Jazz Festival is Saturday, with live music at various locales including the KUVO-FM studios. Slated to perform: Hazel Miller, Marc Sabatella, Bob Montgomery and the Al Herman Quintet.
Bret Saunders’ column on jazz appears every other Sunday in A&E. Saunders is host of the “KBCO Morning Show,” 5:30-10 a.m. weekdays at 97.3-FM. His e-mail address is bret_saunders@hotmail.com.
