The Three Sounds – Groovin’ Hard-Live at the Penthouse CD

Groovin’ Hard-Live at the Penthouse CD by The Three Sounds! Receive this CD for your gift of $120! Become a Jazz Messenger; make your gift ongoing by making your gift a monthly contribution – Donate today!

Stacks up well with the best of The Three Sounds discography—consistency was a big thing with Harris. Consistency and the joy of creation. He sounds like a born entertainer, someone who lived to give the people what they wanted to hear. In this set, recorded in four different stints at Seattle’s now-defunct Penthouse, the group grooves into Neal Hefti’s “Girl Talk,” the classic “The Night Has A Thousand Eyes,” given a bossa-funk feel here, and the American Songbook jewel “The Shadow of Your Smile.”

Harris had such chops, and such a flair for bringing deep soul into the proceedings, such panache, such exuberant confidence in his artistry. And the trios—The Three Sounds had a rotation three different drummers in these sets—elevated their contributions above straight accompaniment into the realm of equality that, while it may not have matched what the Bill Evans Trios were doing at this time (and that surely wasn’t the point)—they certainly matched Harris in their zest creating an assertive interplay and an engaging sound.

“Blue Genes,” a Harris original, boogie woogie’s like mad, and “Rat’s Down Front,” another offering from the Harris pen, ramps that approach up a couple of notches, while “Yours Is My Heat Alone” dances with a light step, with the trio at his most effervescent.