Joseph Arthurlin Harriott (15 July 1928 – 2 January 1973) was a Jamaican

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

musician and composer, whose principal instrument was the alto saxophone. Initially a

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...

per, he became a pioneer of free-form jazz. Born in Kingston, Harriott moved to the United Kingdom as a working musician in 1951 and lived in the country for the rest of his life. He was part of a wave of Caribbean jazz musicians who arrived in Britain during the 1950s, including Dizzy Reece,

Harold McNair Harold McNair (5 November 1931 – 7 March 1971) was a Jamaican-born saxophonist and flautist. Early life McNair was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He attended the Alpha Boys School under the tutelage of Vincent Tulloch, while playing with Jo ...

Harry Beckett Harold Winston "Harry" Beckett (30 May 1935 – 22 July 2010) was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player of Barbadian origin. Biography Born in Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados, Harry Beckett learned to play music in a Salvation Army ...

and Wilton Gaynair.

Early life and career

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Harriott was educated at Alpha Boys School, an orphanage in the city. At Alpha he learned to play the clarinet, the instrument that was assigned to him shortly before his tenth birthday. He took up the baritone and tenor saxophone while performing with local dance bands, before settling on the alto saxophone. Harriott arrived in London in the summer of 1951, aged 23, as a member of Ossie Da Costa's band. British subjects did not require work permits or immigration visas at that time. When the band had completed their tour, Harriott decided to stay in London. He caught the attention of London's jazz scene while sitting in at the Feldman Club on

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and ...

on 26 August 1951. Like the majority of alto players of his generation, he was deeply influenced by

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

. Harriott developed a style that fused Parker with his own Jamaican musical sensibility - most notably the

mento Mento is a style of Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It is a fusion of African rhythmic elements and European elements, which reached peak popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. Mento typically ...

and calypso music he grew up with. Even in his later experiments, Harriott's roots were always audible. However, it was his mastery of bebop that gained him immediate kudos within the British jazz scene upon his arrival in London. During the 1950s, he had two long spells with drummer

Tony Kinsey Cyril Anthony Kinsey (born 11 October 1927) is an English jazz drummer and composer. Early life Kinsey was born in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, England. He held jobs on trans-Atlantic ships while young, studying while at port with Bill West i ...

's band, punctuated by membership of

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's short-lived big band, occasional spells leading his own quartet and working in the quartets of drummers

Phil Seamen Philip William Seamen (28 August 1926 – 13 October 1972) was an English jazz drummer. With a background in big band music, Seamen played and recorded in a wide range of musical contexts with virtually every key figure of 1950s and 1960s Bri ...

and

Allan Ganley Allan Anthony Ganley (11 March 1931 – 29 March 2008) was an English jazz drummer and arranger. Career Ganley was born in Tolworth, Surrey, England. A self-taught drummer, in the early 1950s Ganley played in the dance band led by Bert Ambro ...

. Harriott began recording under his own name in 1954, releasing a handful of EPs for Columbia, Pye/Nixa and Melodisc throughout the 1950s. However, the majority of his 1950s recordings were as a sideman with the musicians previously mentioned, also backing a diverse array of performers, from mainstream vocalist

Lita Roza Lilian Patricia Lita Roza (14 March 1926 – 14 August 2008) was an English singer best known for her 1953 recording " (How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?", which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. She was the first British woman to hav ...

, to traditional trombonist George Chisholm, to the West African sounds of Buddy Pipp's Highlifers. Harriott also appeared alongside visiting American musicians during this period, including a "guest artist" slot on the Modern Jazz Quartet's 1959 UK tour. He formed his own quintet in 1958, and their style of hard-swinging bebop was noticed in the United States, leading to the release of the ''Southern Horizons'' and ''Free Form'' albums on the American Jazzland label.

Free-form innovator

By now firmly established as a bebop soloist, in 1960 Harriott turned to what he termed "abstract" or "free-form" music. He had some loose free-form ideas by the mid-1950s, but finally settled upon his conception in 1959, after a protracted spell in hospital with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

. At first he struggled to recruit other like-minded musicians to his vision. Indeed, two of his core band members, Harry South and Hank Shaw, left when these ideas surfaced. He finally settled on a line-up of

Shake Keane Ellsworth McGranahan "Shake" Keane (30 May 1927 – 11 November 1997) was a Vincentian jazz musician and poet. He is best known today for his role as a jazz trumpeter, principally his work as a member of the ground-breaking Joe Harriott Quintet ...

(trumpet, flugelhorn), Pat Smythe (piano),

Coleridge Goode George Coleridge Emerson Goode (29 November 1914 – 2 October 2015) was a British Jamaican-born jazz bassist best known for his long collaboration with alto saxophonist Joe Harriott. Goode was a member of Harriott's innovatory jazz quintet thro ...

(bass) and

(drums). Les Condon temporarily replaced Keane on trumpet in 1961, while Seamen left permanently the same year, his place taken by the return of the quintet's previous drummer,

Bobby Orr Robert Gordon Orr (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time. Orr used his ice skating speed, scoring, and play-making abilities to revolutionize the pos ...

. Frank Holder toured with Harriott and contributed to recording projects during this period. Harriott's free-form music is often compared to Ornette Coleman's roughly contemporary breakthrough in the United States, but even cursory listening reveals deep divisions between their conceptions of "free jazz". Indeed, there were several distinctive models of early free jazz, from Cecil Taylor to

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...

. Harriott's was another of these. His method demanded more complete group improvisation than displayed in Coleman's music, and often featured no particular soloist. Instead of the steady pulse of Ornette's drummer and bass player, Harriott's model demanded constant dialogue between musicians, which created an ever-shifting soundscape. Tempo, key and meter always free to alter in this music, and often did so. The presence of Bill Evans-inspired pianist Pat Smythe also gave the band a completely different texture to Coleman's, which had dispensed with the need for a pianist early on. Harriott's own playing style underwent some changes during this period, dispensing with orthodox bebop lines in favour of more angular, cut up phrasing. What remained however, was his lyricism, searing tone and sense of attack. Harriott was always keen to communicate his ideas, be it on stage, in interviews or album liner notes. In 1962, he wrote in the liner notes for his ''Abstract'' album, "of the various components comprising jazz today - constant time signatures, a steady four-four tempo, themes and predictable harmonic variations, fixed division of the chorus by bar lines and so on, we aim to retain at least one in each piece. But we may well, if the mood seems to us to demand it, dispense with all the others". He recorded three albums in this vein: ''Free Form'' (Jazzland, 1960), ''Abstract'' ( Columbia (UK), 1962) and ''Movement'' (Columbia (UK), 1963). ''Abstract'' received a five-star review from

Harvey Pekar Harvey Lawrence Pekar (; October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was an American underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality, best known for his autobiographical ''American Splendor'' comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a ...

in '' DownBeat'', the first such honour for a British Jazz record. ''Free Form'' and ''Abstract'' together formed a perfect pair of cohesive, trailblazing free jazz sessions. The next album, ''Movement'', featured some of his most fiercely abstract compositions, but these were tempered by some other, more straight-ahead pieces.

''Jazz fusions''

Harriott's free-form compositions normally formed only a portion of live gigs. Indeed, the final album recorded by the quintet, 1964's ''High Spirits'' (Columbia), was a straight-ahead jazz interpretation of compositions from the musical of that name, which was based on the Noël Coward play '' Blithe Spirit''. However, the continuing hostility of the older British jazz establishment to free form, and the drying up of recording and performance opportunities, saw Harriott's quintet cease to be sustainable in the changing musical climate of mid-1960s Britain. The quintet effectively broke up when Shake Keane moved to Germany in 1965. From this point onwards, Harriott worked freelance on a number of projects. He made several albums and EPs with pianist/composer Michael Garrick in the mid-1960s, notably ''Promises'', ''October Woman'' and ''Black Marigolds''. The latter two were reissued by

Dutton Vocalion Dutton Vocalion specialises in re-issuing on CD music recorded between the 1920s and 1970s, and in issuing albums of modern digital recordings. It was established by British recording and re-mastering engineer Michael J. Dutton. Dutton Laborator ...

on CD in 2005, and Garrick's ''Poetry and Jazz In Concert'' albums (which also featured Harriott) were released on CD by the same label in 2006. Another notable recording as a sideman was with the bluesman

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, on an April 1965 session that also featured Jimmy Page and

Brian Auger Brian Albert Gordon Auger (born 18 July 1939) is an English jazz rock and rock music keyboardist who specialises in the Hammond organ. Auger has worked with Rod Stewart, Tony Williams, Jimi Hendrix, John McLaughlin, Sonny Boy Williamson, a ...

. During the late 1960s he and violinist John Mayer developed ''Indo-Jazz Fusion'' - an early attempt at building on music from diverse traditions. This involved a "double quintet" of five Indian and five jazz musicians playing together on a number of compositions largely conceived by Mayer. Opinion is divided on the success of these experiments. At their best, they offered a new and unique fusion of styles, but at times one can also detect a restriction on the freedom of the jazzmen to improvise. Three albums resulted from the collaboration with Mayer: ''Indo-Jazz Suite'' (Atlantic, 1966), ''Indo-Jazz Fusions'' Volumes I and II (Columbia (UK), 1967 and 1968). Two other Harriott albums appeared in 1967 and 1968. The first, ''Swings High'' (Melodisc), was a strangely retrospective-sounding, but outstanding bebop record featuring old cohorts Seamen, Goode and Smythe; 1968's ''Personal Portrait'' (Columbia) was a mixed bag of jazz with strings and some affecting work with old bandmate Smythe and

Stan Tracey Stanley William Tracey (30 December 1926 – 6 December 2013) was a British jazz pianist and composer, whose most important influences were Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. Tracey's best known recording is the 1965 album '' Jazz Suite Inspi ...

. In 1969, Harriott recorded the album ''Hum-Dono'' in collaboration with the Goan guitarist

Amancio D'Silva Amancio D'Silva (19 March 1936 – 17 July 1996) was an Indian jazz guitarist and composer, known for his own recordings and his collaborations with other musicians in Britain, notably Joe Harriott and Stan Tracey. Life He was born in Bombay (n ...

. This was an unqualified success. Also featuring trumpeter

Ian Carr Ian Carr (21 April 1933 – 25 February 2009) was a Scottish jazz musician, composer, writer, and educator. Carr performed and recorded with the Rendell-Carr quintet and jazz-fusion band Nucleus, and was an associate professor at the Guildhall ...

and vocalist

Norma Winstone Norma Ann Winstone MBE (born 23 September 1941) is an English jazz singer and lyricist. With a career spanning more than 50 years, she is best known for her wordless improvisations. Musicians with whom she has worked include Michael Garrick, ...

, this album presented a more subtle and fluid mix of Harriott's signature alto sound, with D'Silva's unique Indo-bebop guitar style. Also in 1969, Harriott made an appearance at Stan Tracey's Duke Ellington tribute concert, which was also released as the album ''We Love You Madly'' on Columbia. Harriott contributed a moving solo on " In a Sentimental Mood" that was captured for posterity by TV cameras, thus leaving the only existing footage of him in performance. He also made an important contribution to composer Laurie Johnson's 1970 LP, ''Synthesis'' (also Columbia).

Last years

Harriott's work in 1969 was to be the last substantial performances of his career. While he continued to play around Britain wherever he was welcome, no further recording opportunities arose. He was virtually destitute in his last years, and ravaged by illness. He died of cancer on 2 January 1973, and is buried in

Bitterne Bitterne is an eastern suburb and ward of Southampton, England. Bitterne derives its name not from the similarly named bird, the bittern, but probably from the bend in the River Itchen; the Old English words ''byht'' and ''ærn'' together mean ...

churchyard, in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. On his gravestone, his own oft-quoted words provide his epitaph: "Parker? There's them over here can play a few aces too."

Legacy

Since his death, Harriott's often overlooked contribution to the birth of free jazz has gradually been recognised. While he influenced important European free jazz pioneers such as John Stevens,

Evan Parker Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation. Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free ja ...

and Albert Mangelsdorff, in the States his profile and influence was much smaller, despite the admiration of such figures as Charles Mingus. He also suffered mightily from lazy journalistic comparisons with Ornette Coleman, but more recently his originality has been recognised across the globe. American saxophonist

Ken Vandermark Ken Vandermark (born September 22, 1964) is an American composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist. A fixture on the Chicago-area music scene since the 1990s, Vandermark has earned wide critical praise for his playing and his multilayered compos ...

's CD of Harriott free-form compositions, entitled ''Straight Lines'', has introduced his music to another generation of free jazz fans. British players such as

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, Gary Crosby and more recently

Soweto Kinch Soweto Kinch (born 10 January 1978) is a British jazz alto saxophonist and rapper. Biography Born in 1978 in London, England, to a Barbadian father, playwright Don Kinch, and British-Jamaican actress Yvette Harris, Soweto Kinch began playin ...

have also acknowledged his influence and played his music on stage. An important biography by Alan Robertson, as well as the publication of Coleridge Goode's poignant reminiscences of him, have helped to make Harriott's story more widely known. Harriott's profile has also been helped by CD reissues of his most important albums, notably ''Free Form'', ''Abstract'' and ''Movement''. However, other key albums such as ''Hum-Dono'' have yet to be reissued. In recent years, other recordings of Harriott in his prime have surfaced. Michael Garrick has compiled and released a CD on his own Jazz Academy label, entitled ''Genius''. This consists of some early 1960s live performances and home recordings made with a pianist friend, William Haig-Joyce. In 2006, a 1963 live recording made at a small club in Leicester was unearthed and issued on CD, entitled ''Live At Harry's''. In early 2007, many of his hard-to-find mid-1950s sessions, both as leader and sideman, were made available on the 2-CD compilation ''Killer Joe''. A four-CD set entitled ''The Joe Harriott Story'' (Proper Box) was issued in 2011. Dave Gelly
"Joe Harriott: The Joe Harriott Story – review"
''The Observer'', 30 October 2011.

Discography

EPs as leader

* ''Cool Jazz With Joe'' (Melodisc UK, 1954) * ''No Strings'' (Pye Nixa UK, 1956) * ''Joe Harriott Quartet'' (Columbia UK, 1956) * ''Joe Harriott With Strings'' (Jazz Today UK, 1956) * ''Blue Harriott'' (Columbia UK, 1959) * ''A Guy Called Joe'' (Columbia UK, 1960)

Albums as leader or co-leader

* ''

Southern Horizons ''Southern Horizons'' is an album by Jamaican saxophonist Joe Harriott recorded in England in 1959 and 1960 and released on the Jazzland label.

'' ( Jazzland US, 1960) * '' Free Form'' (Jazzland US, 1960) * '' Abstract'' (Columbia UK & Capitol US, 1963) * '' Movement'' (Columbia UK, 1963) * '' High Spirits'' (Columbia UK, 1964) * '' Indo-Jazz Suite'' - with John Mayer (Columbia UK & Atlantic US, 1966) * ''Swings High'' (Melodisc UK, 1967) * ''Indo-Jazz Fusions'' - with John Mayer (Columbia UK & Atlantic US, 1967) * ''Indo-Jazz Fusions II'' - with John Mayer (Columbia UK, 1968) * ''Personal Portrait'' (Columbia UK, 1968) * ''Hum-Dono'' - with Amancio D'Silva (Columbia UK, 1969) * ''Live at Harry's 1963'' (Rare Music UK, 2006)

As sideman

* George Chisholm: ''Chis'' (Decca UK, 1956) *

: ''A "Jazz at the Flamingo" Session'' (Decca UK, 1957) *

: ''Gone Ganley'' (Pye Nixa UK, 1957) *

: ''Listening in the After-Hours'' (Decca UK, 1957) * Al Fairweather: ''Al's Pals'' (Columbia UK, 1959) *

Don Carlos ''Don Carlos'' is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the dramatic play '' Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Fried ...

: ''Crazy Latin'' (Columbia UK 1960) *

: ''In My Condition'' (Columbia UK 1961) * Jeremy Robson: ''Blues For The Lonely'' (Columbia UK, 1962) * Sonny Boy Williamson: ''Don't Send Me No Flowers'' (Marmalade UK, 1965

968 Year 968 ( CMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Emperor Nikephoros II receives a Bulgarian embassy led by Prince Boris (th ...

* Michael Garrick: ''Poetry & Jazz In Concert'' (Argo UK, 1965) * Michael Garrick: ''Anthem/Wedding Hymn'' (Argo UK, 1965) * Jeremy Robson: ''Before Night/Day'' (Argo UK, 1965) * Michael Garrick: ''October Woman'' (Argo UK, 1965) * Michael Garrick: ''Promises'' (Argo UK, 1966) * Michael Garrick: ''Black Marigolds'' (Argo UK, 1966) *

The Nice The Nice were an English progressive rock band active in the late 1960s. They blended rock, jazz and classical music and were keyboardist Keith Emerson's first commercially successful band. The group was formed in 1967 by Emerson, Lee Jack ...

: ''Five Bridges'' (Charisma UK, 1969) *

Big Brass: ''We Love You Madly'' (Columbia UK, 1969) * Laurie Johnson: ''Synthesis'' (Columbia UK, 1970)

References

External links

* *
Joe Harriott
at the British Bebop website (includes complete sessionography) *
Free Form and Abstract albums
' article at

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

Alpha Boys School alumni

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harriott, Joe 1928 births 1973 deaths 20th-century male musicians 20th-century saxophonists Bebop saxophonists Jamaican jazz saxophonists Jazz alto saxophonists Male jazz musicians Male saxophonists Musicians from Kingston, Jamaica