"A symphony of melding influences as far reaching as Sun Ra's call and responses to the future, John Coltrane's tonal meditations to the holy spirit, and the electronic wizardry of Herbie Hancock's `Rain Dance' all nestled together in unison." -- All Music GuidePianist, composer, arranger, and two-time gold record winner Harry Whitaker has been behind some of the finest singers in pop (Stephanie Mills, Donna Summer), jazz (Claudia Acuna), soul, and R&B (Roberta Flack) for years. In New York, he's one of the spiritual pillars of the jazz scene. Whitaker is behind soul classics such as the coveted Black Renaissance and Headless Horsemen of the Apocalypse. His music was featured in the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, and his "We Live In Brooklyn, Baby" is widely sampled among hip-hop artists. Whitaker's original compositions are among the most coveted original works on the scene today. After much effort, Smalls Records is proud to present the first volume of these recordings--a powerful and moving work of staggering beauty.
C**Z
An excellnt work but an underecognized talent
Though Harry Whittaker worked with Roy Ayers,Alphonse Mouzon,and came out with what is recognized as an early 70's spiritual jazz fusion masterpiece "Renaissance" on Baystate (re-issued by Luv and Hate) and though he was on a few dozen sessions as a sideman it was only his latter tenure at Smalls in NYC and with thier label he got to record as a leader.An hear with Israeli bass ace Omer Avital and drummer Dan Aram he has the most personal forum in that he not only leads and shows his excellent playing chops but they are all his compositions.His style is personal one which here produces some lovely ballads and some uptempo numbers.What makes it interesting is that they may have been written recently or 20 years ago.This CD is worth going to allmusicguide and taking a sample to here for yourself.I enjoy his own work as much as I enjoy his playing the songbook and think you might like it as well.The only thing you might rue like I did was that this talent got few chances as a leader but we are fortunate for this release the two others on Smalls and his work with the labels stable before his recent passing.CheersChazz
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