BARRY HARRIS
Newer Than New (Original Jazz Classics)
Reviewed by Ron Saranich

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This wonderful album by the Barry Harris Quintet was originally released in 1961 and remastered this year. Throughout Harris' career he played piano with some of the great tenors in jazz, including Coleman Hawkins, Dexter Gordon, Hank Mobley, Sonny Stitt, and Yusef Lateef. For this session, Harris, the leader, contributed outstanding bebop piano and wrote four of the eight songs. He was joined on this session by Lonnie Hillyer on trumpet, Charles McPherson on alto saxophone, Ernie Farrow on bass, and Clifford Jarvis on drums. Though not exactly household names, these musicians were consummate professions who worked well together. In fact, Hillyer and McPherson were both from Harris's hometown of Detroit and protégés of the great pianist.

Harris patterned his playing after Bud Powell, which means he played bebop almost exclusively. However, in his chosen genre, he was one of the best whether the tempo was slow, medium, or rapid. His notes were clear and crisp, and his sense of timing impeccable. On Newer Than New, Harris had many wonderful solos, and his accompanying was also top notch. Hillyer and McPherson sounded particularly inspired, producing several exciting solos are well.

All in all, I highly recommend Newer Than New if you want to hear passionate bebop played by dedicated musicians united in their purpose. I was pleasantly surprised during my first listen to this music, and still love this music after several additional listens.

Song List:

Mucho Dinero; Easy To Love; Burgundy; The Last One; Anthropology; I Didn't Know What Time It Was; Make Haste; Nightingale.

© 2001 - Ron Saranich