Rare And Obscure Argo Recordings (XXVI & XXVII)

 Barry Harris - Breakin' It Up

A hard to find early album by the great Detroit pianist Barry Harris! Barry's playing here in a trio with William Austin on bass and Frank Gant on drums, and the tracks have a definite boppish quality to them — more straight ahead than some of the flowing lines he brought to later work in the 70s and 80s — but still uniquely soulful, with a really strong sound for such a young player. Titles include bop standards like "Ornithology", "Passport", and "Allen's Alley" — plus Harris originals like "SRO" and "Bluesy" — and the album's got a nice, tight, soul jazz feel overall!

*Dusty Groove, Inc.*

Sonny Stitt - Burnin'

A great lost gem from Sonny Stitt — one of his most obscure sides for Argo, recorded with a no-nonsense quartet that included Barry Harris on piano, William Austin on bass, and Frank Gant on drums — all on the day after the trio worked together on Harris' Breakin It Up session for the label! There's a soulful quality to the rhythm section that takes Stitt way past bop — a relaxed groove from Harris that flows nicely into that confident, exploratory territory that we love so much on Stitt's Verve and Roost albums from the time. Sonny blows strongly on both alto and tenor sax — and titles include "It's Hipper Than That", "I'll Tell You Later", "Lover Man", and "A Minor Sax".

*Dusty Groove, Inc.*

Barry Harris Trio

Breakin' It Up

Barry Harris' debut Argo session captures a uniquely soulful interpretation of bop sensibilities. Light yet commanding, Breakin' It Up moves from strength to strength, belying the pianist's relative youth and inexperience. Paired with bassist William Austin and drummer Frank Gant, Harris dispenses with frills, paring familiar melodies like "Ornithology" and "All the Things You Are" to their absolute essentials. The overall approach is far more straight-ahead than his subsequent efforts, yet his signature melodic ingenuity is firmly in place. Breakin' It Up was reissued on CD by Jazz Beat in a two-fer alongside Burnin', recorded a day later under the leadership of saxophonist Sonny Stitt. *Jason Ankeny*

The current CD contains the two subsequent entries from Barry Harris' discography: the pianist's debut LP as a leader Breakin' It Up, and the album Burnin' featuring the same trio (Harris, Austin and Gant) backing Sonny Stitt in Chicago on August 1, 1958, the day after Breakin' It Up sesión! Burnin' marks the first recorded collaboration between Harris and Stitt.

The music throughout both recordings is impeccable, and their approximation in feeling, personnel, date, location and recording technique, give them a consistency that makes them sound more like one single studio sesión, than two separate dates.

Barry Harris has taught performed with many of the idiom's most celebrated musicians and has recorded some truly exquisite recordings, of wich these two albums are perfect examples.

*(from liner notes)*

1 - All The Things You Are

(Kern, Hammerstein)

2 - Ornithology

(C. Parker)

3 - Bluesy

(B. Harris)

4 - Passport

(C. Parker)

5 - Allen's Alley

(D. Best)

6 - Embraceable You

(G. and I. Gewrshwin)

7 - SRO

(B. Harris)

8 - Stranger In Paradise

(Wright, Forrest)

9 - Lover Man

(Davis, Sherman, Ramirez)

10 - Ko-Ko

(C. Parker)

11 - How High The Moon?

(Lewis, Hamilton)

12 - Easy Living

(Robin, Rainger)

13 - It's Hipper Than That

(S. Stitt)

14 - A Minor Sax

(S. Stitt)

15 - Reed And A Half

(S. Stitt)

16 - I'll Tell You Later

(S. Stitt)

17 - Look For The Silver Lining

(Kern, DeSylva)

#1 to #8: from the album Breakin' It Up (Argo LP 644)

Barry Harris (piano), Billy Austin (bass), Frank Gant (drums).

Recorded in Chicago, July 31, 1958

#9 to #17: from the album Burnin' (Argo LP 661)

Sonny Stitt (alto sax, tenor sax), Barry Harris (piano), Billy Austin (bass), Frank Gant (drums).

Recorded in Chicago, August 1, 1958

Rare And Obscure Argo Recordings (XXIII)

Sonny Stitt

Sonny Stitt

Sonny Stitt recorded extensively throughout his career, so frequently that he often couldn't remember his sessions a year later. This informal session, cut in Chicago in 1958, is one that Stitt apparently forgot about, which is why the personnel (probably a local rhythm section that might include pianist Barry Harris) has never been definitively identified. Stitt, doubling on alto and tenor, plays some songs with unfamiliar titles, but all of the chord changes of the originals (half of them blues) are fairly basic. He is in above-average form, making this LP of interest for bebop collectors.

*Scott Yanow*

A record with a simple, elegant title — and a similar cover image too — but if you know Sonny Stitt, you know there's often plenty beneath the surface, and this classic Argo Records has plenty to offer, once you start listening! The album's right up there with Sonny's work for Roost — in terms of straight, strong, confident blowing — remarkably subtle, but also remarkably well-conceived, and proof that by the end of the 50s, Stitt had really matured greatly as a player — bringing so much to bear in very short space, and really coming up with imaginative solos in the process! The group's a quartet with Barry Harris on piano (although conflicting information also claims that it's Ramsey Lewis) — but Stitt's the main focus on this set, and for good reason — on titles that include "Jack Spratt", "Propapagoon", "This Is Always", "Everyone Does", and "Mr Sun".  *Dusty Groove, Inc.*

The front and back covers of this album feature the same photo, a close-up of Sonny Stitt. Even if the size is small enough for a CD booklet, it is a striking photo. But just like the analog version, the original artwork does not mention the musicians who complete the quartet. That is why many people still wonder who they are.

Some sources say they are Barry Harris on piano, William Austin on piano and Frank Gant on drums. But that is just an assumption. Fans who have heard Harris play even once should know that Harris' style and that of the pianist on this album are not at all similar. Furthermore, in an interview with the British magazine "Jazz Monthly", Barry Harris himself denied having participated in this recording.

I'd like to assume the theory that the pianist is Ramsey Lewis, given the similarities to other recordings from the same period that he participated in such as MAX by drummer Max Roach and The Colorful Strings Of Jimmy Woode by bassist Woode.

When Lewis visited Japan in August 2011, we asked him about it and he replied: "Yes... That pianist is definitely me. But I don't remember who the bass player and the drummer were."

Perhaps one day the doubt will be resolved. *Kazunori Hadada (from Japanese CD liner notes)*

1 - Propapagoon

(Sonny Stitt)

2 - This Is Always

(Harry Warren, Mack Gordon)

3 - Jack Spratt

(Sonny Stitt)

4 - Just You, Just Me

(Jesse Greer, Raymond Klages)

5 - Cool Blues

(Charlie Parker)

6 - Mister Sun

(Sonny Stitt)

7 - Dancing On The Ceiling

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

8 - Everyone Does

(Sonny Stitt)

Sonny Stitt (alto sax, tenor sax), possibly with:

Ramsey Lewis (piano), Eldee Young (bass), Isaac "Red" Holt (drums)

or

Barry Harris (piano), William "Bill" Austin (bass), Frank Gant (drums)

Recorded in Chicago, Illinois, 1958