PLAYING TIME : 73:04

Michael Garrick writes: "The big difference between Joe Harriott and most 'free' players was that he could really and truly play. Coltrane is the only other saxophonist we know of in a similar emotional and technical category: stupendous creativity in 'standard' material before breaking the 'form' barrier. In his case, the freeform compositions are immensely tuneful, a marvellous amalgam of West Indian atmosphere, circus music, impressionism and jazz. They are totally unique.
A unique amalgam of West Indian atmosphere, circus music, impressionism and jazz.

"This CD contains his mainstreem roots as well as the progressive element: both are present in the opening live concert extracts. Dig Phil Seaman's drumming! Perhaps the most poignant moments are the intimate fromt-room duos with pianist William Haig-Joyce, to four of which Coleridge Goode, at age 84, has added his loving bass lines and inimitable bowed solos. Confirmation has been left with just the unkown brushes-on-chair player: you can hear Bill inviting him to sit nearer the mike. Joe's solo simply builds and builds.

"Track 10, Shiva, was allocated to Joe as featured soloist in the Michael Garrick Septet of the mid-1960s with Don Rendell, Ian Carr, Tony Coe, Dave Green and Trevor Tomkins. Track 11, Joe's Calypso Sketches by an earlier Michael Garrick Quintet, as the finale to a poetry and jazz concert, illustrates how naturally his freeform concept could be taken up by players other than his own group. The huge bonus here is the presence of Shake Keane, in many ways an even more widely accomplished musician than Joe. But that's another story..."

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Alan Robertson's book Joe Harriott: Fire In His Soul

read about Garrick's Year of the Harriott

read our interview with Michael Garrick