EDDIE HARRIS — Is It In (review)

EDDIE HARRIS — Is It In album cover Album · 1974 · Funk Jazz Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
js
Very few jazz musicians can equal Eddie Harris when it comes to having a restless exploratory nature. Never one to repeat successful formulas, Harris has experimented with many genres in music as well as innovations in instrumentation and production techniques. “Is it In” may not seem like much to the serious jazz fan, even the party-hardy funk jazz fan may find this a little light weight, but due to Eddie’s innovative use of early electronic devices and allowing those devices to help shape his music, Harris has come up with a masterpiece for collectors of exotic instrumental music. There are some odd instruments listed on here including the guitorgan and electric bongos. What those two mysterious instruments seem to amount to is something similar to the old quirky rhythm sections on home organs. The reultant mechanical rhythms are used in conjunction with live drums and other instruments to produce a futuristic lounge funk that was way ahead of its time when it came out in the early 70s. This record pre-dates much of the acid jazz and trip-hop that arrived in the early 90s and still makes a great find for the rare groove DJ looking to supplement his electro-groove lounge vibe.

The innovative modern sound of this record is furthered by Harris’ use of short punchy riffs that predict the kind of rhythmic figures that will predominate when DJs begin to loop the first half of James Brown riffs without including the answer riff. The impact of Eddie’s riffs is magnified by the fact that Harris knows how to write killer repeating melodic figures. From his earliest soul jazz records to his later innovations, Harris has always stood out with his catchy distinctive riffs that stand above the pack.

Not all is funky on here, Harris has never been one to shy away from the avant-garde and on “Is it In” he brings us electro-African music on “It’s War”, Terry Riley/Tangerine Dream style early electronica on “Those Lonely Nights” and free blowing doubled electronic sax on “Tranquility and Antagonistic”.
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