BARRY HARRIS- “MOOSE THE MOOCH”
Thursday, July 8th, 2010
Below is a transcription of Barry Harris’ solo on “Moose The Mooch” from the record BARRY HARRIS AT THE JAZZ WORKSHOP, a trio record featuring Sam Jones and Louis Hayes. Harris, even after all these years on the scene and tremendous acclaim as an educator, is still imho a very underrated pianist, not as quickly mentioned along with some of his contemporaries, as one of jazz’s foremost performers. the solo here is an example of Harris’ beautiful, undiluted bebop conception…
Another Herbie solo for you, this one from the Miles Davis record, 
I’ve been listening to lots of classical music lately while following along with the scores, concentrating mostly on small ensemble and solo music. i’m especially drawn to a cycle of preludes and fugues by composer Dmitri Shostakovich. preludes (sometimes called toccatas or fantasies) are usually paired with fugues, the prelude often being used to set the mood of the fugue which follows it. preludes were utilized as a way for performers to “warm up” as well as to alert the audience that a performance was to begin but they are, in a sense, self-contained compositions, at times appearing without an accompanying fugue. they are formally less constrained than fugues, which adhere to a general but more rigorous set of rules in regards to presenting the material. Shostakovich is said to have composed his set of preludes and fugues after being inspired by a young pianists’ rendering of music from Bach’s Well- Tempered Clavier at a competition. as he wrote the music, he asked this same pianist, Tatiana Nikolayeva, to listen in as he played through it. upon finishing the music, he dedicated it to her. Nikolayeva premiered the music in 1952. the set moves around the cycle of 5ths, starting from C major. each major key is 
followed by its relative minor key giving 24 pairs. this set of music is so full of ideas- it’s something one could listen to for years and continually discover something to ponder and learn from. right now, i’m focusing on Prelude no. 1 in C major, which starts diatonically and modulates through a beautiful and complex progression. i included two versions of the music, one by Nikolayeva and another by Keith Jarrett. they are very different readings: the Nikolayeva version is slower, more measured and contemplative while Jarrett’s is faster and more literal. Another composer that i’ve been listening to a lot is Alexander Scriabin. he wrote almost 90 standalone preludes throughout his career and they chronicle the development of his highly personal sensibilities. like Shostakovich, Scriabin provides a wealth of material to deal with. the two preludes presented here, No. 2 in Bb Major and No. 3 in C major, are from his set Three Preludes, Op. 35, from 1903. they are performed by Evgeny Zarafiants.
Lately i’ve been rereading a great book, the second part of Chester Himes’ two volume autobiography entitled “My Life Of Absurdity”. Himes, an awesome writer and contemporary of James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, John A. Williams, etc., spent a large part of his adult life as an expatriate artist searching for and eventually finding a measure of success after leaving the U.S., where he was largely neglected. as the title suggests, Himes’ tale is one filled with enough adventure, humor, heartbreak and stories so bizarre that they test the limits of credulity. he speaks with gritty, bitter honesty about the lifestyle of expatriate black artists in postwar Europe. the first volume, “The Quality Of Hurt”, which deals with his life before leaving the states, is just as incredible. perhaps Himes and Mal Waldron have nothing more in common than spending the larger part of their artistic life living abroad. unlike Himes, Waldron didn’t want for work while in New York. he was busy as a leader and sideman before his departure. also, unlike Himes, he seemed to adapt to his new environment in Europe without too much difficulty… below are two of Waldron’s compositions from different points in his career. the first, “Fire Waltz”, is from the record, 