1969 · Album
Swiss Movement
Recorded June 21, 1969, Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland · Atlantic Records · Produced by Not specified
Eddie Harris and Les McCann's Montreux Moment
Eddie Harris's multiophonic saxophone and clever wordplay on 'Compared to What' made this live set a million-seller.
Eddie Harris is the reason this album matters. Yes, Les McCann is the leader, but Harris arrives on tenor saxophone with a completely different agenda — he's not here to blow changes in the post-bop language. He's here to talk, to argue, to play through a wah-wah pedal, to make the saxophone sound like it's speaking English. When the trio locks into the groove at the Montreux Jazz Festival in June 1969, Harris turns 'Compared to What' into something that shouldn't work but does: political soul-jazz with a saxophone asking rhetorical questions over a funky, walking beat.
The single became massive, both the record and Harris's vocal version with lyrics about Vietnam and hypocrisy. Leroy Vinnegar and Donald Dean lock the bottom down hard enough that McCann's piano can breathe and swing without pushing. Benny Bailey on trumpet is there too, professional and warm, but Harris owns the conversation. His tone is wide and vocalized; his phrasing feels like he's mid-sentence, never quite finishing a thought before pivoting to the next one.
This was not an art-music project. It was a hit record that proved soul-jazz could reach beyond the jazz audience without selling out. Harris's willingness to use every unconventional sound the saxophone could make — growls, multiphonics, the wah-wah effects — turned a live festival set into something that sounded radically modern for 1969 and still does. That crossover appeal is exactly why it sold millions.
Who's playing
Leroy Vinnegardouble bass
Les McCannpiano
Eddie Harristenor saxophone
Benny Baileytrumpet
Donald Deandrums
Where next?
More by Les McCann
All 32 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
