Don “Sugarcane” Harris – Sugar Cane’s Got The Blues
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/192 kHz | FLAC | 300 dpi scans | Jazz, Rock
1.74 GB (24/192) + 934 MB (24/96)
1977 MPS Records || Orig. rel. 1972
Is the stunning cover art the best thing about this record? The album documents when fiddle wizard* Don “Sugarcane” Harris played the Berlin Jazz Festival with a lineup that featured Robert Wyatt on drums and Volker Krieger on guitar. Terje Rypdal also guests on one odd song choice here, Song For My Father.
The song reunites part of the band that played on the New Violin Summit album from 1971 (minus the, um, THREE other violin players).** It’s one of those kind of fusion experiments where I can’t decide if it’s brilliant or terrible. Terribly brilliant? Horace Silver is a bold choice for a violin player to begin with, although the core melody is probably the only place on this record where Harris’ playing could be described as “pretty.” And he does enough interesting blues deconstruction of it that, by the end of its 10 minute length, he’s more or less convinced me it was all worth it. Robert Wyatt — who, if I’m being honest, is the whole reason I bought this record – is far too busy of a drummer to settle down into the sort of soul-jazz groove that usually accompanies this tune, and I think that’s probably the point. He’s leaning so heavy on his ride cymbal that I imagine chunks of it breaking off and flying around the stage. Rypdal brings his round guitar tone into the mix like a supernova dipped in reverb, which somehow ends up being the earthiest thing here. Wolfgang Dauner hangs low in the background, playing quiet chords, which is just as well since Harris seems intent on jarring us loose from the original.
The record ends with a blues-patterned composition, “Where’s My Sunshine”, which features Harris on vocals and is a great closing number. People here know I don’t like rating albums, because this ain’t Pitchfork or NME and who needs more of that, but if I did, this would probably be a 4 out of 5 in terms of achieving what it sets out to do.
* “The Fiddle Wizards” is destined to be, if it’s not already, the name of one of the newer bluegrass/Americana jam bands currently plaguing the United States. A pox on all their houses. Or most of them.
** It’s occurred to me that this record and the double-LP “New Violin Summit” could both have been taken from the same concert, although that would have made for a rather long festival set. I don’t have my own copy of New Violin Summit and can’t seem to find any info on exactly where or when it was recorded. Readers are encouraged to leave comments here, always, but especially if they can help clear up details.
Don ‘Sugar Cane’ Harris – Sugar Cane’s Got The Blues
Label/Cat#: MPS Records – 68.029, MPS Records – 0068.029, MPS Records – MPS 15.333
Country: Germany
Year: 1977
Genre: Electronic, Jazz, Rock, Blues
Style: Modern Electric Blues
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue
Tracklist
A1 – Liz Pineapple Wonderful (07:53)
A2 – Sugarcane’s Got The Blues (14:38)
B1 – Song For My Father (10:23)
B2 – Where’s My Sunshine (11:25)
Total length: 44:19
More information: https://www.discogs.com/release/2569709-Don-Sugar-Cane-Harris-Sugar-Canes-Got-The-Blues
Recorded At – Berlin Jazz Festival
Recorded At – Berliner Philharmonie
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – MPS Records GmbH
Made By – Metronome Musik GmbH
Pressed By – Phonodisc GmbH – 0701.733
Bass – Neville Whitehead
Drums – Robert Wyatt
Electric Guitar – Terje Rypdal (tracks: B1), Volker Kriegel (tracks: A1, A2, B2)
Keyboards, Electronics [Electronic Devices] – Wolfgang Dauner
Violin [Electric], Vocals – Don ‘Sugar Cane’ Harris
Written-By – Don Harris (tracks: A1, A2, B2), Horace Silver (tracks: B1)
Design – Günter Kieser
Directed By [Recording Director] – Willi Fruth
Engineer – Eberhard Sengspiel
Engineer [Assistance] – Achim Hebgen
Liner Notes – Achim Hebgen
Photography – C+M Mudalla, Hans Harzheim, Ralph B. Quinke
Photography By [Titelfoto] – Volker Hartmann
Producer – Joachim E. Berendt
Recorded live at the Berlin Jazz Festival
Recorded at: Berlin Philharmonic Hall
Both ‘Sugar Cane & “Sugar Cane” are mentioned on the cover.
Black MPS Label: Made in Germany by Metronome Musik GmbH
Released in a single cover.
LINEAGE:
vinyl, MPS 68.029 1977 reissue;
Record cleaned on Music Hall WCS-3 machine with custom fluid;
Pro-Ject RM-5SE with Audio Tecnica Signet TK7E cartridge;
AT-618 Disc Stabilizer weight;
Pro-Ject Tube Box S2 preamp with Philips NOS ECC83 tubes; probably Speedbox 2 for PSU (possibly Accubox);
Audioquest Black Mamba and Pangea Premier interconnect cables;
RME Babyface Pro interface ;
Adobe Audition at 32-bit float 192khz; some tracks run through ClickRepair on low settings with output monitored manually, then cleaned up further with Audition;
clicks and pops removed manually with Adobe Audition 3.0; resampled, dithered, converted to FLAC using iZotope RX Advanced;
Tags done with Foobar 2000 and Tag and Rename;
Monitoring through Yamaha NS10M near-field monitors and Sennheiser HD600 headphones.
All other resolutions: Mirror 1 || Mirror 2
password: vibes
Thanks for the Sugar Cane Harris share lovely blues Great work
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