Trying To Make Heaven is a 1979 quintet recording of the incendiary tenor saxophonist Billy Harper, in an extended, hard-blowing session, strong on Harper’s signature tune Love On The Sudan. The Sudan track is a reprise of a 1977 Harper album of that same title, Love On The Sudan (Denon), but on which the pick is different track, Priestess. If you are following this, well done.
Steadfast against the shifting tide of popular jazz taste, Harper developed his own musical vision, not following fashion other than being a natty dresser (more on fashion later) . He found his following strongest in Japan, who appreciated his hi-energy delivery, and some of his albums are Japan-only releases. I think he is wrongly dismissed by some, as in: “you need only one Billy Harper album” (Capra Black (Strata East, 1973) Yeah, it’s great, but there’s more to enjoy.
I’m a fan of Harper’s intensity and length of expression, and I confess I’m a sucker for the Love On The Sudan composition. Bitter-sweet opening brass harmonies, attention-commanding high drama, tension between tenor running for freedom against the constraints of the theme, then plunging into a smouldering fire and brimstone pit, a pregnant pause, then roaring off into the body of the piece, a rollercoaster ride in which modal passages swap with fast-paced rhythmic swing and returns to the Sudan anthem.
It’s good to have more than one Billy Harper album, and Love On The Sudan (Priestess) is another good choice, and I must review his Black Saint album (1975), which helped launchthat great Italian Jazz label of the same name. Admittedly, you can have too many. I picked up a Japan-only title Soran-Bushi (1978) , and it was more of the same, a bit indifferent but relentless, not a good combination. / londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com
Tracks
1. Trying to Make Heaven My Home
2. Inside
3. Love On the Sudan
WAYNE DOCKERY bass
ARMEN DONELIAN piano
EVERETT HOLLINS trumpet
BILLY HARPER tenor saxophone
All music composed by Billy Harper
Recorded March 3-4, 1979 at Tonstudio Zuckerfabrik in Stuttgart, Germany
MPS Records MPS 0068.234 (Germany)