Joseph Arthurlin Harriott (15 July 1928 – 2 January 1973) was a Jamaican jazz musician and composer, whose principal instrument was the alto saxophone. According to George McKay in Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain, Harriott was 'responsible for a series of brilliant experiments in new music in Britain through the 1960s'. His work was 'crucial' in two areas of innovation: free music and then global music fusion.

Initially a bebopper, 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, Harry Beckett and Wilton Gaynair.

Background

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, 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.

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. 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". 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.

During the late 1960s he and violinist John Mayer developed Indo-Jazz Fusion - an early attempt at building on music from diverse traditions. 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.

Discography

Harriott's profile has also been helped by CD reissues of his most important albums, notably Free Form, Abstract, Movement and Hum-Dono, but other key albums 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.

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 (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)
  • Tony Kinsey: A "Jazz at the Flamingo" Session (Decca UK, 1957)
  • Allan Ganley: Gone Ganley (Pye Nixa UK, 1957)
  • Lita Roza: Listening in the After-Hours (Decca UK, 1957)
  • Al Fairweather: Al's Pals (Columbia UK, 1959)
  • Don Carlos: Crazy Latin (Columbia UK 1960)
  • Shake Keane: 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 [1968], US: Springboard, 1972)
  • 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: Five Bridges (Charisma UK, 1969)
  • Stan Tracey Big Brass: We Love You Madly (Columbia UK, 1969)
  • Laurie Johnson: Synthesis (Columbia UK, 1970)

Further reading

  • Cotterrell, Roger. "Joe Harriott" (biography), in Cotterrell and Tepperman, Joe Harriott Memorial. Reprinted in Chris Blackford (ed.), Joe Harriott: Forgotten Father of European Free Jazz. Special issue, Rubberneck no. 25, 4–12. Basingstoke, 1997.
  • Muirhead, Stella (2012). Joe Harriott: Sketches from Life. DLL Publishing. .

References

  • Joe Harriott at the British Bebop website (includes complete sessionography)
  • Free Form and Abstract albums article at All About Jazz
  • Alpha Boys School alumni
  • Indo-Jazz Fusions