Remembering Friends: Eddie Harris
Now if you ever met Eddie you know he was a true characterā¦ her was my introduction to himā¦
I was just setting in my Sax Shop in Studio city when Eddie walked inā¦ the first thing he said to me was āIām having trouble playing my high notes and I need your helpāā¦ Well, even though we had never met I knew who he was from Album covers (and yes I said Album covers)ā¦ the first thing I thought was I am not getting to a conversation with Eddie Harris about playing high notesā¦ Well, he turned his back to me and started putting his sax together so I could not see what he was doingā¦ he started to playā¦ it sounded like a beginnerā¦ I had no idea as to what I was going to doā¦ he turned around and his neck was at a right angle and smashed in the middleā¦ he said āI donāt know what the problem isā and started to laughā¦ he had never met me and was already pulling my chainā¦ apparently he had closed his car door on the neck and bent it in half that morningā¦. Of course the neck could not be fixed in addition to being bent it had a hoe in the middle of the bendā¦. He was playing a Mark VII tenor and I had a Mark VII neck in the shop I gave himā¦ he was paying the stock Selmer mouthpiece just like Joe Henderson and of course sounded great with the new neck and believe me he had not trouble with the high notesā¦
After I got to know him he invited me to his houseā¦ we went into his practice-family room and there was a poster on the wall that said āCharlie Parker featuring Eddie Harris on Pianoāā¦ as it turned out Eddie started of singing and playing piano in church before he took up the saxophoneā¦.. he had a strange cone shaped room he practiced inā¦ he said it helped him project his soundā¦
A funny story about Eddieā¦ he always said it was important to learn every tune in every key..
I thought that was a very good idea at the timeā¦ after his death Lanny Morgan came into the shop and I told him what Eddie had said and he told me a storyā¦
Apparently when Eddie was young he had gone to set in with Sonny Stittā¦ Eddie had practiced Cherokee in the key of B-Flat so he said Cherokeeā¦ Stitt said āCherokee in Gā.. well Eddie did not do so wellā¦ So, he went home and learned it in G and then went backā¦ Again, he said Cherokee and Stitt said āCherokee in F-Sharpā not so good for Eddieā¦ and that was why he learned every song in every keyā¦. I donāt think Stitt had any problems with keysā¦ and neither did Eddie after thatā¦
One of the things I noticed about great Jazz players is that keys did not seem to be importantā¦ I know there are keys players like to play a tune in better but most great player can play in all keysā¦
Needless to say Eddie kept me laughing!
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