The Joe Harriott Quintet

about

Joseph Arthurlin 'Joe' Harriott (born July 15, 1928 in Kingston, Jamaica- died January 2, 1973 in Southampton, Hampshire) was a Jamaican jazz musician and composer, whose principal instrument was the alto saxophone. Initially a bebopper, he is now widely acknowledged as one of the worldwide pioneers of free jazz. He was educated at Kingston's famed Alpha Boys School, which produced a number of prominent Jamaican musicians. He moved to the UK as a working musician in 1951 and lived in the country for the rest of his life. Harriott was part of a wave of Caribbean jazz musicians who arrived in Britain during the 1950s, including Dizzy Reece, Harold McNair, Harry Beckett and Wilton Gaynair. Early career Like the majority of alto players of his generation, Harriott was deeply influenced by Charlie Parker. He developed a style which fused Parker with his own Jamaican musical sensibility - most notably the mento and calypso music he grew up with. Even in his later experiments, his roots were always audible. However, it was Harriott's mastery of bebop which gained him immediate kudos within the British jazz scene upon his arrival in London in 1951. During the 1950s, he had two long spells with drummer Tony Kinsey's band, punctuated by membership of Ronnie Scott's short lived big band, occasional spells leading his own quartet and working in the quartets of drummers Phil Seamen and Allan Ganley. He began recording under his own name in 1954, releasing a handful of E.P. (extended

top songs

albums

Abstract

Abstract (Remastered 2015)

Movement

Swings High

Free Form

I Had the Craziest Dream: Modern Jazz and Hard-Bop in Post War London, Vol. 1

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British Modern Jazz Singles, EP Tracks & Rarities 1960-62

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Formation: Live '61

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Abstract (Album of 1963)

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Soho Scene '61 Jazz Goes Mod

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Free Form (Album of 1961)

Southern Horizons / Free Form / Abstract

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