Got the Blues Don 'Sugar Cane' Harris

• 1 Liz Pineapple Wonderful 10:30
• 2 Sugarcane's Got the Blues 15:22
• 3 Song for My Father 10:51
• 4 Where's My Sunshine 12:42
• Total Runtime 49:25

Info for Got the Blues

Called ‘the Jimmy Hendrix of the violin’, compared with Eric Clapton and spoken of in the same breath with the likes of Jean Luc Ponty, violinist Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris was the master of jazz inflected rock ‘n roll on his instrument. His association with Frank Zappa brought him into the limelight, but he also played and recorded with John Lee Hooker, Little Richard and rhythm & blues legend Johnny Otis, the man who gave him the nickname ‘Sugarcane’. L.A. guitarist Randy Resnick reminisced about working with Harris, “All I can say is that I never got chills in any other band like the ones I got when Don took off…it was tribal, it was primitive and it was real…

This is the album that put Sugarcane Harris on the map as a band leader. It was also MPS’s number one selling album at the time. Called “his best overall recording” by Allmusic, the album was recorded at the 1971 Berlin Jazz Days on the same day that Sugarcane played with the New Violin Summit, another successful MPS live recording that includes violin greats Jean-Luc Ponty, Michel Urbaniak, and Nipsy Brantner. Harris is accompanied by an all-star group assembled especially for the two Berlin appearances. With former Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt providing the high voltage on drums, Harris electrifies on his high-energy Liz Pineapple Wonderful. Harris’ virtuoso intro and finale on Sugar Cane’s Got the Blues melds into an emotional lyricism. Impressive solos from guitarist Volker Kriegel and the great German keyboardist Wolfgang Dauner, who trespasses over into free jazz. There’s a rocking version of Horace Silver’s Song for My Father, while the 24 bar blues Where’s My Sunshine radiates powerful funky solos by all the frontline players. It’s a bright upbeat end to an album featuring Sugarcane Harris’ gritty, passionate play backed by a stellar band of empathic musicians.

„Don "Sugar Cane" Harris' drug addiction curtailed his career long prior to his death in 2000, but this performance at the 1971 Berlin Jazz Festival stands out as his best overall recording. Taped during the same day as the highly recommended New Violin Summit (which features Harris with fellow violinists Jean-Luc Ponty, Nipso Branther, and Michal Urbaniak), Harris delivers a terrific performance with his high energy "Liz Pineapple Wonderful"; "Sugar Cane's Got the Blues," a sometimes lyrical but often intense number featuring great solos by keyboardist Wolfgang Dauner and guitarist Volker Kriegel; the unusually structured blues "Where's My Sunshine"; and finally an extended very percussive treatment of Horace Silver's "Song for My Father," during which Terje Rypdal takes over on guitar. Harris is clearly influenced by fellow violinist Stuff Smith on this outing with an often piercing sound and frequently fierce attack; he also has a somewhat hoarse singing style like Smith's. This record has been difficult to find since BASF quit making records in the mid-'70s, but it is well worth acquiring and thanks to a reissue in 2008 by SPV, easier than ever.“ (Ken Dryden, AMG)

Don „Sugar Cane“ Harris, vocals, electric violin
Terje Rypdal, guitar (on track 3)
Volker Kriegel, guitar (on tracks 1, 2, 4)
Wolfgang Dauner, keyboards, electronic devices
Neville Whitehead, electric bass
Robert Wyatt, drums

Recorded live at the Berlin Jazz Festival
Berlin Philharmonic Hall, November 4th and 7th, 1971
Engineered by Eberhard Sengspiel
Produced by Joachim E. Berendt

Digitally remastered

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