One Day, Every Direction: Harris in Overdrive
Eddie Harris packed extraordinary range into a single session—comedy, funk, swing, and genuine oddness all at once.
How Can You Live Like That? arrived from a single day in the studio in 1976, and you can hear the restless energy of that sprint across every track. Eddie Harris assembled a large ensemble—multiple saxophonists including Buddy Collette and Charles Owens, a full trumpet section with Oscar Brashear and Snooky Young, trombones, bass, drums, and keyboards—and pushed them through sharp left turns from one number to the next. This was Harris refusing to sit still, refusing a sound.
The album earned an odd reputation. The Lincoln Journal Star found the vocals turned it into a comedy event, which is partly the point; Harris had always been a showman willing to undercut his own sophistication with humor and funk. AllMusic reviewer called it "full of abrupt changes of gear," noting that some passages sounded routine but the sheer range of idioms was extraordinary. Recorded in one day, the album reads less like a coherent statement and more like evidence of a session in motion—a saxophonist and composer with too many ideas and not enough time to refine them all into perfection.
This isn't the place to start with Harris if you want his most disciplined work. But if you want to hear a major jazz voice refusing convention and throwing everything at the wall—swing, comedy, fusion impulses, pure exploration—this captures something real about who he was as a musician. The friction between ambition and the clock makes it live.
Who's playing
Bradley Bobobass
Benny Powellbass trombone
Ron Carterbass
Eddie Harrispiano
Cedar Waltonpiano
Ronald Muldrowguitar
Buddy Collettealto saxophone
William Greenalto saxophone
Delbert Hillbaritone saxophone
John J. Kelson, Jr.tenor saxophone
Charles Owenstenor saxophone
Al Aaronstrumpet
Oscar Brasheartrumpet
Bobby Bryanttrumpet
Snooky Youngtrumpet
George Bohanontrombone
Garnett Browntrombone
Grover Mitchelltrombone
Paul Humphreydrums
Billy Higginsdrums
Richard EvansMinimoog
Where next?
More by Eddie Harris
All 36 albums →
The musicians on this record
Blues Farm 1973
Ron Carter
plays bass here
plays bass here
Eastern Rebellion 1975
Cedar Walton
plays piano here
plays piano here
♫
Soweto 1979
Billy Higgins
plays drums (drum set) here
plays drums (drum set) here
