Swiss Movement

Last updated
Swiss Movement
Swiss Movement.jpeg
Live album by
Les McCann and Eddie Harris
Released1969
RecordedJune 21, 1969
Venue Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux, Switzerland
Genre Soul jazz
Length39:06
Label Atlantic
Producer Nesuhi Ertegün, Bob Emmer
Eddie Harris chronology
High Voltage
(1969)		Swiss Movement
(1969)		 Free Speech
(1969)
Les McCann chronology
Much Les
(1968)		Swiss Movement
(1969)		 Comment
(1969)

Swiss Movement is a soul jazz [1] live album recorded on June 21, 1969 at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland by the Les McCann trio, with saxophonist Eddie Harris and trumpeter Benny Bailey. [2] [3] The album was a hit record, as was the accompanying single "Compared to What", with both selling millions of units. [1]

Contents

Reception and influence

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [4]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]

The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of best jazz performance, small group. [6] It reached No. 1 on Billboard's jazz album chart, No. 2 on the R&B chart, [7] and No. 29 on the LP chart. [8] [9]

A Billboard writer commented in 2006 that "what put Montreux on the recorded-live-in-concert map was the legendary Swiss Movement album". [10] Writing in AllMusic, Richie Unterberger calls Swiss Movement "one of the most popular soul jazz albums of all time, and one of the best." [4]

The tapes of this impromptu concert were originally recorded by the festival's organisers and then passed on to Atlantic, who decided to release them after paying a fee of less than $100. [11]

McCann and Harris teamed up again for a follow-up recording, Second Movement , released in 1971. [12]

Track listing

  1. "Compared to What" – (Gene McDaniels): 8:41
  2. "Cold Duck Time" – (Eddie Harris): 6:31
  3. "Kathleen's Theme" – (Les McCann): 5:45
  4. "You Got It in Your Soulness" – (Les McCann): 7:08
  5. "The Generation Gap" – (Les McCann): 8:45
  6. "Kaftan" - (Leroy Vinnegar) – bonus track on the 1996 reissue:

[4]

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montreux Jazz Festival</span> Music festival in Switzerland

The Montreux Jazz Festival is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual jazz festival in the world after Canada's Montreal International Jazz Festival.

Leroy Vinnegar was an American jazz bassist. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, the self-taught Vinnegar established his reputation in Los Angeles, California, during the 1950s and 1960s. His trademark was the rhythmic "walking" bass line, a steady series of ascending or descending notes, and it brought him the nickname "The Walker". Besides his jazz work, he also appeared on a number of soundtracks and pop albums, notably Van Morrison's 1972 album, Saint Dominic's Preview.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Harris</span> American jazz musician (1934–1996)

Eddie Harris was an American jazz musician, best known for playing tenor saxophone and for introducing the electrically amplified saxophone. He was also fluent on the electric piano and organ. His best-known compositions are "Freedom Jazz Dance", popularized by Miles Davis in 1966, and "Listen Here".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Les McCann</span> American jazz pianist and vocalist (1935–2023)

Leslie Coleman McCann was an American jazz pianist and vocalist. He is known for his innovations in soul jazz and his 1969 recording of the protest song "Compared to What". His music has been widely sampled in hip hop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teddy Edwards</span> American jazz saxophonist

Theodore Marcus "Teddy" Edwards was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene McDaniels</span> American R&B and soul singer-songwriter (1935–2011)

Eugene Booker McDaniels was an American singer, producer and songwriter. He had his greatest recording success in the early 1960s, reaching number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with "A Hundred Pounds of Clay" and number five with "Tower Of Strength," both hits in 1961. He had continued success as a songwriter with titles including "Compared to What" and Roberta Flack's "Feel Like Makin' Love".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerald Wilson</span> American trumpetist

Gerald Stanley Wilson was an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. Born in Mississippi, he was based in Los Angeles from the early 1940s. He arranged music for Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles, Julie London, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter, Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, and Nancy Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benny Bailey</span> American jazz trumpeter (1925–2005)

Ernest Harold "Benny" Bailey was an American jazz trumpeter.

<i>Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux</i> 1993 live album by , Miles Davis and Quincy Jones

Miles & Quincy: Live at Montreux is a collaborative live album by American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis and conductor Quincy Jones. It was recorded at the 1991 Montreux Jazz Festival and released by Warner Bros. Records in 1993.

"Compared to What" is a protest song written by Gene McDaniels. It was recorded by Roberta Flack in February 1969 for her debut album First Take, but became better known following a performance by Les McCann and Eddie Harris at the Montreux Jazz Festival in June of that year. The song appeared as the opening track on their 1969 album Swiss Movement on the Atlantic label, which was certified Gold in sales in the United States. The song has been recorded by more than 270 performers, including Ray Charles and Brian Auger.

<i>Stormy Monday</i> (Lou Rawls album) 1962 studio album by Lou Rawls

Stormy Monday, also known as I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water, is the debut album of R&B singer Lou Rawls, released in 1962 on Capitol Records. Recorded in two sessions in February 1962, the album features a number of blues and jazz standards chosen by Rawls and backed by the Les McCann Trio. Stormy Monday was reissued in 1990 by Blue Note records.

Donald Dean is a jazz drummer who has worked with Kenny Dorham, Les McCann and others. A collection related to him is led by the Los Angeles Jazz Institute.

<i>Oscar Peterson Jam – Montreux 77</i> 1977 live album by Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Jam – Montreux '77 is a 1977 live album featuring a jam session led by Oscar Peterson. At the Grammy Awards of 1979, Peterson won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance by a Soloist for his performance on this album.

<i>Second Movement</i> 1971 studio album by Eddie Harris and Les McCann

Second Movement is an album by American jazz saxophonist Eddie Harris and pianist/vocalist Les McCann recorded in 1971 and released on the Atlantic label. The album was a follow-up to the duo's highly successful live collaboration Swiss Movement.

<i>Leroy Walks Again!!</i> 1963 studio album by Leroy Vinnegar

Leroy Walks Again!! is the second album by American jazz bassist Leroy Vinnegar recorded in 1962 and 1963 and released on the Contemporary label.

<i>Les McCann Ltd. Plays the Truth</i> 1960 studio album by Les McCann Ltd.

Les McCann Ltd. Plays the Truth is the debut album by pianist Les McCann recorded in 1960 and released on the Pacific Jazz label. Liner notes were by Frank Evans and album photography was by Ivan Nagy.

<i>On Time</i> (Les McCann album) 1962 studio album by Les McCann Ltd.

On Time is an album by pianist Les McCann recorded in 1962 and released on the Pacific Jazz label. It was McCann's first album to feature guitarist Joe Pass.

<i>Much Les</i> 1969 studio album by Les McCann

Much Les is an album by jazz pianist Les McCann, recorded in 1968, and was his first released, in 1969, on the Atlantic label.

<i>Comment</i> (album) 1970 studio album by Les McCann

Comment is an album by pianist/vocalist Les McCann recorded in 1969 and released on the Atlantic label.

<i>Live at Montreux</i> (Les McCann album) 1973 live album by Les McCann

Live at Montreux is an album by pianist Les McCann recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1972 and released on the Atlantic label.

References

  1. 1 2 Carr, Roy (2006) [1997], "Soul to Soul", A Century of Jazz: A Hundred Years of the Greatest Music Ever Made, London: Hamlyn, pp.  106–121, ISBN   0-681-03179-4
  2. ↑ "BBC - Music - Review of Les McCann & Eddie Harris - Swiss Movement". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  3. ↑ Eddie Harris Discography, accessed June 22, 2017
  4. 1 2 3 "Swiss Movement - Les McCann, Eddie Harris - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  5. ↑ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide . USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp.  96. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.
  6. ↑ "'Swiss Movement' Grammy Nominee" (March 13, 1971) Billboard. p. 4.
  7. ↑ Goldmark, Daniel (2012) In "Slightly Left of Center": Atlantic Records and the Problems of Genre. In Ake, David Andrew; Garrett, Charles Hiroshi; Goldmark, Daniel "Jazz/Not Jazz: The Music and Its Boundaries". University of California Press. p. 165.
  8. ↑ "Billboard Top LP's". (February 28, 1970) Billboard. p. 70.
  9. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1991) "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Albums". Billboard Books. p. 119.
  10. ↑ Ouellette, Dan (June 3, 2006) "On the Record". Billboard. p. 36.
  11. ↑ "EH | the Official Website of Eddie Harris".
  12. ↑ Edelstein, Paula. "Second Movement". AllMusic. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.