Sugar Cane’s Got the Blues (Live)

American violinist Don “Sugercane” Harris was one of the very few great Blues / Rock / Fusion artists playing the fiddle. He came to prominence as a member of the revolutionary John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers group and later as a member of Frank Zappa’s groups. This album, recorded live during the Berliner Jazztage Festival, presents Harris both as a leader and a participant in the legendary “Violin Summit” super-group, assembled by producer Joachim Berendt. The solo appearance is in fact an offshoot project of the “Violin Summit”, which was a series of recordings on the legendary MPS label, which celebrated the role of the violin in Jazz, Blues, Jazz-Rock Fusion and Rock and produced probably the most interesting document of music by violinists in the late 1960s / 1970s. The “Violin Summit” projects were based on a concept of a rhythm section and a series of violinist playing solo and in various combinations. The 1971 version of “Violin Summit”, which produced the “New Violin Summit” double album, included also such great violin players as Jean-Luc Ponty (France), Michal Urbaniak (Poland) and Nipso Brantner (Germany) – none of them is heard here – and a fantastic rhythm section consisting of the Norwegian guitarist Terje Rypdal, German keyboardist Wolfgang Dauner, New Zealander (resident in UK at the time) bassist Neville Whitehead and British drummer Robert Wyatt. On the solo night Rypdal is replaced by German guitarist Volker Kriegel. Surrounded by such illustrious musicians, Harris plays his heart out, improvising more daringly than ever before, no doubt inspired by the incredible performances by his European partners, who were musically much more advanced that Harris’ usual American companions. Overall the album presents a great event captured for posterity, with some amazing musical moments documenting the formation of the European Jazz-Rock Fusion, which bridges between such distant genres as the Blues and Free Jazz with elegance and vision. Beautifully remastered and packaged, this album is definitely worth investigation and attentive listening.

Line-up:
Don 'Sugar Cane' Harris - violin, vocals, writer
Wolfgang Dauner - keyboards, electronics
Neville Whitehead - bass guitar
Robert Wyatt - drums
Volker Kriegel - guitar
Terje Rypdal - guitar