07/19/2013

Harrison at Large

13.07.17_JHarrison178
Photo by Jacob Blickenstaff

My editor at JazzTimes, the fearless Evan Haga, saw the Joel Harrison 19 on Wednesday night, the night after I did. Seems like he caught more of a homerun set than I did, based on this Facebook squib from yesterday:

The Joel Harrison 19 sounded tremendous last night at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola—advanced but accessible modern big-band music performed by some of NYC's best. 

"Advanced but accessible" is a good way to put it. There was little about Harrison's writing that felt forbidding, aesthetically speaking, or unduly academic. Which is one reason I was slightly bummed by the headline on the Times review.  (I've said it before but it bears repeating every now and again: critics at the paper have no say — none — in the hed. We usually only see it when the piece goes live.)

No reason to rearticulate my other mixed feelings about the set, which I really enjoyed overall. I hope the big band is one more format that Harrison continues to explore.

Jul 19, 2013 4:21:44 PM | Big Bands, Guitars

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