Premiere: Hear a Track From Allan Harris’ Tribute to Eddie Jefferson

  I  
Image

Allan Harris pays tribute to an esteemed vocalist on The Genius Of Eddie Jefferson (Resilience Music Alliance).

(Photo: Sandrine Lee)

The Genius Of Eddie Jefferson, which is set for release April 27 on Resilience Music Alliance, finds Allan Harris wading through 10 jazz classics to pay tribute to an esteemed vocalist.

Accompanied by pianist Eric Reed, bassist George DeLancey, drummer Willie Jones III and tenor saxophonist Ralph Moore, Harris tackles classics like “Sister Sadie,” which can be streamed below.

On a tune Horace Silver issued on his 1959 Blowin’ The Blues Away that Jefferson (1918-1979) later interpreted, Harris laments the relationship Sister Sadie finds herself in. But more than Harris working through a spate of classic compositions, his grappling with Jefferson’s legacy has influenced him as a a performer.

“This feels so good, like reaching a high,” he said about recording The Genius Of Eddie Jefferson. “Doing Eddie Jefferson’s music has taken me out of the arena of being just the guy singing jazz standards in front of a smoking band, to feeling like a part of the band. It would be hard now for me to turn back.”

For more information about The Genius Of Eddie Jefferson, visit the Resilience Music Alliance website. DB



  • Sonny_Rollins_by_Michael_Jackson_copy.jpg

    Onstage, Rollins would move about restlessly, thrusting his tenor sax in the air as he blew.

    Sonny Rollins Passes Away at 95

    Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…

  • Courtesy_of_the_Ulmer_family.jpg

    To the world, James Blood Ulmer was a legend, a visionary and a musical force whose sound was distinctive and unique. To his family, he was their teacher, their storyteller and a source of strength.

  • Davis_Miles_by_Jack_Vartoogian_lo_res_copy.jpg

    How best to mark Miles Davis’ centennial? By allowing the stories to flow, and cross-discussions to happen.

  • Aldana.jpg

    “I wanted to get into the real feeling,” Melissa Aldana says of studying the work of singers from Cuba’s filin tradition in preparation for her collaboration with pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba.

  • promoFINALdress-1_copy.jpg

    “There was something about her tone and sound and phrasing — an intimacy, a vulnerability, an honesty,” says Joshua Redman, who produced Cavassa’s record after she toured with his band.