A good altoist friend of mine was staying with his grandmother in South Central LA. (Terrance Tony who did a tour with Art Blakely). One one occasion, he sat in on a jam session. He was taken back by this tenor player. During a break, they complimented each other. My friend said "you sound just like Eddie Harris!" This tenor player laughed and replied "Well I hope so. . . I'm Eddie Harris!" For the following sets, Eddie played mostly piano since my friend was playing. Eddie was described as cool and down to Earth.
Great story!!! I lived in the same brownstone as Blakey's grandson (manager for the Messengers)..He was surprised that I even knew about his grandfather. I told him I was weaned on music.
I was a sophomore at Northwestern University in Chicago (actually Evanston) when I first heard this tune, and I must say that it changed my life! The Beatles and Mick Jagger had hit the scene, but they could not touch Eddie Harris & Les McCann. They defined my era of existence, and I still claim it today.
I can't believe I'm actually in my 70's. What happened with all these years? I can still remember the first time I listened to this song was when I was lying in bed with a joint between my fingers ....
After football practice in college, most of the "brothers" on my team would beg me to let them come to my little house to listen to JAZZ. I have a fabulous Jazz collection. I never turned them down. This song was always the first song I'd play on my record player to set the mood. . FYI...during the trumpet solo, Ella Fitzgerald enters to sit down....WOW. This song is "Cold Duck Time". They performed this with only one rehearsal. I was honored to see Eddie Harris perform at "Concerts by the Sea" in Redondo Beach, CA. If you are a true Jazz fan, I know you will appreciate listening to the entire cut. ALL SAX PLAYERS....ENJOY.
i also saw him there, and he came into Carmelo's jazz club were i tended bar a couple days later. all the studio musicians came there to hear their frjends play
When my Mom passed on...my Father called me at 5:00 AM to tell me the sad news. I didn't cry. No. I hung up the phone and I reached down into my CD rack and out came Les McCann and "the ELECTRIFYING" Eddie Harris's "Swiss Movement". Yeah!!! And in tribute to Shirley Jean Robinson (*Feb 7, 1938 - May 18, 2002*) I played "Cold Duck Time"...her favorite. I cranked that baby too. Loud. "To You Mom". Happy Mother's Day!!! You will forever be loved and missed!!!
@@KSmall109CABBen is quoted in the liner notes of the CD saying he initially thought the crowd was really digging his solo and the applause was for him. He also said that Ms. Fitzgerald came up to them after the set and apologized for entering during their performance. Man, I sure wish I could have been there, but I was only 4!😂
amen & delivered it thru such a very wide variety of flavors, moods, musical settings a deliciously inventive composer of jazz plans for players to play within on the album you hear Les intro the tune with "this is the first time we've ever heard it" watch Bennie Bailey's smile grow as Eddie takes first solo, & Eddie's smile as he hears & watches Bennie Bailey take the framework and cut loose that beautiful solo within it
I was lucky enough to have a fearless friend who would call great musicians to come over and jam. One day he calls and tells me to grab my tenor and come to his house prepared to spend the day. I walk in and the is my friend Joe D'Elia with Eddie Harris. Seeing my tenor case he sat at the piano with Joe at the drums and we spent the better part of the afternoon playing and listening to Eddie talk about jazz and funk and his life in the business. Then we drove to NYC to catch Eric Alexander at Sweet Basil and the place went crazy when we walked in. Everyone knew they were in the presence of genius and we had a ball. Eddie was one the kindest people I ever met and I was very lucky to have shared that day and night with him and my friend Joe. Both Eddie and Joe are gone now but I will cherish the memory of that day and night until I check out.
Your dad is a great musician if he played just like Les McCann. "baddy baddy assed" is what we called it back in the day, in SanJo. We're playing this track live in May, in Germany. We can only hope to be somewhat as baddy assed with it as these fellas were in switzerland in 1969. I've been listening to and learning from Les for about 40 years now and I never get tired of it, and I hope people hear his influence in my playing. Timeless, Always Fresh. Absolutely "THE" shit. For me anyway. . This and the Lou Rawls tracks, with the same trio. Leroy Vinegar on bass, and Mr. Jefferson on drums. Where the gospel meets the blues, Latin and jazz on the way to the FONK, Where it's at.
Glad times have changed and people don;t have to feel they have to be so stiff when listening to such funky grooves. How can they sit there like unmoved statues? Barely a head nod between them.
This is great! I have the album and listened to it many times but never saw the video. I love at 1:10 how Eddie Harris suspends time in the break during his solo. And Benny Bailey's solo is out of this world! 👍❤️
Wow. So many memories growing in Detroit. This song influenced me to pick up the saxophone. The great Eddie Harris! You can sing his solo! I had his sax book.
@@tomhamilton4825 I was talking about the bass player opening the song with swing eights and then adapting to straight eights when the rest of the band starts playing.
I picked up this album on vinyl at a flea market for $1, It was in kind of rough shape, but it could still bring out the feel of that day. I later got the 30th Anniversary CD, I still love the sound it has on vinyl.
I absolutely LOVE the syncopation in the head, I mean holy shit, it blows me away every time!! Eddie Harris was a legendary performer, and his stage presence is just so chill & effortless... wish I could see him perform
Yes Sir Buddy There Was Magic in the Air In 69 a Hipness a Cool that was Born and it grabbed all Musicians Notibly Miles Birth of the Cool and These Cats What a Glorious Time to be alive
What’s so interesting about this clip is that halfway through Benny Bailey’s improv a certain world renowned jazz vocalist strolls in to thunderous applause……..I always wondered what Benny thought was going on…….cause he was killing…
I grow up on this type of jazz, and for some reason I equated it with my step dad smoking weed. I know that was Ella Fitzgerald, but who was the other lady???
I’ve listen to the record of this for almost 50 years... And I always thought the ending was live. I can’t believe they edited out one of the last notes of the ending for the record!
And all these years I thought the applause for Benny's solo was just that, rather than Ella coming in and sitting down in the front seat..There you have it.
Ella came in just at the right moment to provoke an applause to one of the most unbelievable trumpet solos in the history of jazz :) She knew what she was doing...
also, if you watch the full video of the performance, after this set, she later apologizes to Benny for interrupting his solo. and even the piano player acknowledges how you can't not applaud for Ella.
All I was thinking was they are playing this note for note from my favorite album. Didn't know there was a video of it too. I thought jazz festivals would be outside
I had the "Swiss Movement" album from when it first came out and could never understand why everyone was going crazy in the middle of the trumpet solo. Now I know. God herself just walked in.
This is the vid from the actual song, this is such a great song Eddie Harris killed, just to think they learned it that day and figured out the progression for their solos and flowed so well on what I’m assuming is the first audience performance
Benny Bailey had his eyes closed during his solo so he didn't notice that Ella had just walked in. He said later that he thought all the cheering was for what he was doing (and he was a bit embarrassed)! It was worthy of some cheers, though, because it's a really smoking solo, with those cool growls in the break and double-time just as Ella appears.
Until today, I never knew and always wished, that I could find video recordings of this session. Looks like "Compared to What" and "Cold Duck Time" are the only ones.
i,'ve seen Brotha Eddie Harris, in concert in HARLEM, Montreal JAZZ festival, his musical influences are endless, always a MARVELOUS Message in all his SHOWS.....timeless MUSIC...PRICELESS
Lord, to see this and have only heard the album prior is amazing. This material shaped my musical heart, and that heart today has just started bass and tenor -- all at the age of fifty-something.
WOW I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO THIS FOR DECADES. Never seen it. Also i only discovered the music of Ben Bailey a few years ago.. never knew he was on this track.
Eddie's saxophone primer, as I recall, was very much technically oriented, including the proper posture and embouchure. It contained some very difficult exercises.
Start at 2:00, the sax player hits those funky notes...they arrive at Eddie...they stagger him back for a sec...he closes his eyes...then that smile...then the look over at another musician as if to say "listen to this cat go..."...then the beamy smile again. No exaggerated movements or fist pumps, just quiet appreciation of the other guy's art. What consummate professionals all
I have to agree with you fully. My school mates came from a school tour that I didnt go to with an Eddie Harri's cassette they picked up there and gave it to me. I still have it since 1983
Reminds me of my high school band days (class of 1972). A few of us got together & learned to play this vintage music from the REAL jazz greats. Les McCann FOREVER!!!!!!
This is a video segment, from the fabulous 1969 concert, from which the famous McCann/Harris 'SWISS MOVEMENT' album was made. This was the first time that the band had played the tune, for an audience. They had just learned it, that day.
As many here are sharing they did, I did not see Eddie Harris live. My last band though went for 10 years, primarily Swing Dance "Big Band" ( we were 7 piece) but also covered much straight ahead Jazz, R&B, etc. and for club dates we would always open with Miles Davis "Freddie the Freeloader" to ease into the night. We would save Cold Duck Time to a bit later when it was time to open up and blow longer solos over this great groove. Piano, Guitar, Sax (1 or 2) and me on harmonica......this is a great song for harp. I have played with many horn players who "were there" to play with Duke E., Count Basie, Joe Liggins, Ray Charles, etc. ....veteran players who like these gentlemen here, make it look easy!
lol I know Eddie was mad she came in late and Les was mad at the people who kept moving around and not listening to the left of him. My father in law grew up with Les in Louisville.......he was a temperamental kind man. I asked him what that meant and he told me he would help you with anything and be so very nice but break a dudes jaw if he tried to interrupt him while he was talking. lol And not so much as to flinch while the man falls to the ground.
As a jazz funk blues groove lover and a History teacher.... I can't help thinking that the well being of the Earth is somehow related to the abundance or lack thereof of funky jazz. Solution: Replace school bells that sound the end of lessons with a burst of Cold Duck Dance.
