Monterey Jazz 1995 pt.1- Gene Harris Quartet 

_ Oh, Yes! Gene Harris, the blues master, has always been 1 of my very fave jazz pianists, and I still love the album Down Home Blues.

@@jimtakahashi4638 After Seattle I found myself In Boise and watched the huge benefit Gene Harris and his yearly jazz/blues festival was to the music dept at Boise State University...now one of the best in the US. His support brought together the jazz genius of decades of talent and we all are the lucky listeners to. these collaborations. Thanks for commenting.

@@mariewaring8965 : Thanks for your reply. _ Wow, I didn’t know about it at all. But, I do know about the relevance and importance of locality and artistic (cultural) inclinations. I’m a Japanese living in NZ (more than 25 yrs). I was born in Tokyo, but before moving to Christchurch, I used to live in Kobe. You know jazz has always been popular in JPN, and particularly in Kobe, which is said to have been the city where jazz was played for the 1st time in JPN. So, when I lived in Kobe, I used to go to my fave jazz bar/restaurant called Satin Doll twice a week. Those were the days, indeed! Unfortunately, jazz is not popular here in NZ, and were it not for RU-vid, my jazz life would be very poor. That said, I’m basically a blues fan, my life-long fave blues musicians being T-Bone Walker and Lightnin’ Hopkins. Yes, T-Bone is very jazzy, and I’ve always had a weakness for “crossover/borderline” between blues and jazz. And, Gene Harris was always at the right spot in that spectrum. I also like the guitarists in his band : Ron Eschete as the regular and Jim Mullen in the UK. They are quite like Herb Ellis and Joe Pass for O. Peterson. I’ve been a guitar player, playing mostly rock when I was young, but now playing blues and “fake” jazz.

@@jimtakahashi4638 Do you know Mori Masako, Hibari Misora..?? Picture on the left 👈 is Mori Masako..in Concert, Tokyo. ❤️❤️🎵🎵🎵🎵

Add Les Mcann and you have a kind of divine trio of guys that straddled brilliantly the imaginary lines between blues and jazz. (and the church)

@@MarkTarmannPianoCheck_it_out and Jay Mcshann

Precise definition!👏✌🏾👍

Muito bom ver conterraneos por aqui! 🇧🇷🎶👋

Anything from Robert Turner ... it sounds like "new" Gene Harris to me. It's scary. And very welcome. Gene left us too soon and Robert keeps the flame alive.

Around 1992 when Gene Harris was playing in the Ray Brown trio with drummer Jeff Hamilton they appeared at the Snowbird Jazz Festival. As part of that appearance, the three of them hosted a Master Clinic in the afternoon. My wife and I attended and boy was it a treat. Less than 25 people there. After a couple of tunes from the trio, each member hosted a session in a separate room and then they all came back together for what amounted to a private concert. We loved Gene Harris anyway, but to sit 15 feet from him while he percussively beat a Yamaha grand piano into submission for 45 minutes was pure heaven! Lots of anecdotes about their careers including a demonstration by Ray Brown and Jeff Hamilton of what it was like to play fast with OP. It was a very memorable afternoon at Snowbird! We were fortunate enough to see / hear Gene’s quartet on at least 5 other occasions at the Concord Jazz Festival and again at Snowbird. Gene Harris’ soulful playing is sorely missed! RIP

@@johnfuller8284 You were very lucky. The only (2) times i was fortunate to see Gene was when he was leading the Phillip Morris big band and a few years after that it became the Concord Orchestra. Both times was when they toured Australia. But never in trio/quartet formation. Lucky you, John. Be well, G’day & Cheers!

@@ronaldunkel2681 Ronald, I never had the pleasure of seeing the Phillip Morris Big Band or Concord Orchestra. I was living in Utah when I had multiple opportunities to see GenHarris. My wife and I used to go to the Concord Jazz Festival in Concord, CA every year, and I think Gene played every time we attended. I got to thinking after I posted yesterday that I’d left out a couple of times we saw him. I’m assuming you know about Carl Jefferson, the President of Concord Records who was also a car dealer in Concord, CA. When he died, Concord Records hosted a tribute concert in the Concord Pavilion that also included Gene’s quartet. As you may know, Gene lived. In Boise, Idaho. He hosted a little jazz festival every summer at the Concord Winery. It wasn’t a big affair, and mostly featured local and regional jazz players. We drove up to Boise from Utah one year to attend. It was very informal, with seating on the lawn and Gene even let a couple of musicians who’d driven there with their instruments sit in with the Festival All Stars Band. It was really fun. The last time I saw Gene was at a solo piano concert in the Hilton Hotel in Salt Lake City. Just Gene sitting at a Steinway playing whatever came to mind. The day his death was announced in the New York Times, I cut the article out and put it on our refrigerator. It stayed there for over 10 years in tribute to one of the greatest piano players I ever heard. After we moved to Nashville, TN we made a trip to Chicago to see Oscar Peterson perform at an outdoor pavilion there called Rivinea. Unfortunately this was after Oscar’s stroke, so he had pretty limited use of his left hand. He was in his early eighties at the time, but there was no doubt he was Oscar Peterson. Band members included Nils Henning Orsted Peterson on bass, Ulf Wakenius on guitar, and Martin Drew on drums. It was a very good concert! After moving to Nashville, we started attending shows at a non-profit jazz school in there called the Nashville Jazz Workshop (NJW). One of the founders, bassist Roger Spencer, attended Indiana University with Jeff Hamilton, a drummer who played with Oscar, Ray Brown and Gene Harris in the Ray Brown Trio. We’ve come to know an exceptional piano player named Tamir Hendleman through his appearances there with the Jeff Hamilton Trio. If you don’t know of him, you should look him up. He really swings. The NJW has a RU-vid channel and they live stream and archive many performances. Just this week, Jeff Hamilton appeared here at the NJW with a Japanese Hammond B3 player named Akiko Tsuruga and a really swinging young guitarist from New York, named Graham Dechter. Check them out on RU-vid. Sorry to have rattled on for so long, but jazz is what keeps me going

@@johnfuller8284 Enjoyed your - rattling on - John. And i agree that Carl Jefferson revitalised the Concord Jazz label. Didn’t know he had also a car dealership. For about 10/12 years Gene Harris “disappeared” from the general jazz scene. It was in fact Ray Brown that - bought him back - and into the Concord fold. This during the time that Scott Hamilton, Jeff Clayton, Jeff Hamilton etc, were “riding high”. I know about Tamir, he was part of the Jeff Hamilton trio, as was Monty Alexander at one stage, plus (these two) switching roles as leader(s). A similar pianist i find is Dan Nimmer who performs a lot with the - Lincoln Big Band - under leadership of Wynton Marsalis. Btw Wynton is having a big band bash - “Wynton At 60” - at the Lincoln Centre in November. I saw (young) Wynton at 19/20 yrs old being a member of - The Jazz Messengers - in 1980 at a live-gig i’ll never forget. With Art Blakey of course and Bobby Watson on alto. I am repeating myself, on these comments/replies, that those were the most interesting of jazz years/history. Check out the channel - SmallsLIVE - , here on YT with (upcoming) jazz combo’s. But what amazes me that most play from sheet-music even the soloists (?). Finally yes Gene Harris was among the finest Jazz pianist and certainly the most bluesy/soulful players. Good talking to you, John. G’day & Cheers!

@@johnfuller8284 I am very jealous, as Gene is my all-time favorite pianist bar none. I even own the only known recording by the original group, The Four Sounds, with the tenor saxophonist whose nickname gave the group it's name: Lonnie "The Sound" Walker. Very first recording of Gene/Andy Simpkins/Bill Dowdy. My only Gene Harris performance I witnessed was at the Blue Note in NYC, at a time when his feature was "Summertime" as captured on the BAM BAM BAM recording. The arrangement was the same only turned to the nth degree, those heavy rolling chords back to the delicate notes, over and over, each peak higher than the one before. I never heard such a crowd reaction when he finally finished the tune. Then Ray Brown said "You keep playing that piano like that, it's going to follow you home." Pandemonium. My favorite jazz memory, and it's not close.

Check out the classic album "Down Home Blues" by Gene Harris and Jack McDuff

Thanks

Sorry

Here's a start: 1. Down Home Blues 2. You Don't Know Me 3. ??? 4. This Masquerade (by Leon Russell) 5. ??? 6. Summertime