Jazz Police - “The Garden”: Debut Release From the Zacc Harris Group

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Tuesday, 21 May 2013

“The Garden”: Debut Release From the Zacc Harris Group

Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

Zacc Harris©Andrea Canter

Busy with multiple bands, curating jazz series, and teaching guitar, Zacc Harris finally brought his latest project, The Zacc Harris Group, into the recording studio, yielding the very fine The Garden. Tending The Garden is leader/guitarist Harris, pianist Bryan Nichols, bassist Chris Bates, drummer JT Bates, and special guest, saxophonist Brandon Wozniak.

A California native raised in Virginia, Zacc Harris graduated from Southern Illinois University and has studied with Fareed Haque, Jonathan Kreisberg, Adam Rogers and Clay Moore. After moving to the Twin Cities about 7 years ago, he formed the Luminessence Trio (now Zacc Harris Trio), with ongoing weekly gigs (Sundays) at the Riverview Wine Bar with Matt Peterson and Pete Hennig. Zacc has played with Babatunde Lea, Nancy Harms, Bruce Henry, Debbie Duncan, and most of the area's top singers and instrumentalists, and leads the Atlantis Quartet (named “Best Jazz Band” of 2011 by City Pages), Monk in Motian, Clockwise, and Vital Organ in addition to the Zacc Harris Group and Trio. As well as composing, performing, and directing the Jazz at Studio Z series, Zacc is dedicated to teaching; he is an adjunct faculty at Hamline University and has taught guitar privately for the past 15 years.

The Garden

Surely one of the most prolific musicians in the Twin Cities, Zacc Harris’s own discography as composer and leader has been limited to the three well-received recordings with the Atlantis Quartet. The Garden fills this gap and then some, providing a crisp snapshot of Harris interacting with some favorite cohorts.

The Zacc Harris Group first performed about three years ago, and Harris describes The Garden as “an ending harvest of the last few years of playing with these great musicians…a marker of the music we created together, shaped together… the result of hard work, creative collaboration, and the amazing support of community…” That community includes the individuals who contributed to the recording project through Kickstarter, which allows emerging as well as veteran artists to raise funds to support projects for which there are too few opportunities through commercial means.

Brandon Wozniak©Andrea Canter

The Garden includes 9 original compositions by Harris as well as his arrangement of “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise.” The opening “In Passing” offers an immediate showcase for Harris’s nimble guitar and ability to build momentum with his A-Team of Nichols, Bates, and Bates. The spotlight also shines on Nichols who develops a dark and twisting storyline over wandering bass and punchy percussion. Wozniak steps out of the background late but powerfully, flavoring the final passages with hints of Coltrane. Sax melds with piano and bass in a modern Baroque intro to “Maple Grove Two-Step,” Nichols then taking off on Rhodes, laying a foundation for a Middle Eastern-flavored groove from Harris. Wozniak, on tenor, takes this direction farther, higher, deeper before yielding to a frenetic break from JT Bates. Maybe it should be retitled “Maple Groove?”

The title track swings lightly as Wozniak and Nichols introduce the theme, sax taking over in an updated bebop construction; Harris, then Chris Bates, solo convincingly in the same vein with articulate single-line twists and turns. “Edge of Reason” starts in ambient mode, guitar and Rhodes creating a wave of low pressure across a starry moonscape, pleasantly carrying the listener to that outer edge (“of reason”?) without losing our aural balance. Bryan Nichols takes us on a lyrical, abstract journey in his introduction to “Softly As [In] a Morning Sunrise.” The gentle opening yields to a harder, swinging theme from Wozniak, then chromatic explorations in double time from Harris, buoyed by Chris and JT, the latter providing nonstop spin and splash. In high gear, Wozniak returns – by now this is neither “softly” nor “sunrise” but the full energy of high noon.

Bryan Nichols©Andrea Canter

I recall hearing Zacc’s “She Was My Best Friend” at a gig at Studio Z last year, a song he wrote to honor a beloved dog. It’s a lovely ballad, elegant with a touch of melancholy and particularly affecting turns from Harris and Nichols. “Lines in the Sand” and “Albatross” were previously recorded by the Atlantis Quartet, a piano-less ensemble led by Harris with Wozniak and Chris Bates. These new arrangements take full advantage of the expanded instrumentation as well as the talents of Nichols and JT Bates; the Rhodes helps add a more other-worldly sound to “Lines in the Sand,” while JT drops little sonic bombs throughout to keep ears on full alert. Nichols’ acoustic piano adds yet another dimension to “Lines” and the beautiful floaty “Albatross.”

“After the Fall” perhaps provides the best opportunity to appreciate the inventive improvising of Bryan Nichols, as well as the subtle genius of Chris Bates who “haunts” this track with some very low commentary; Wozniak and Harris also provide some sterling harmonies and JT ranges from laid back to in-your-face assertive. Brandon’s magical bass clarinet vamp sets the stage for the closing celestial funk of “Undercurrent.” The Rhodes/guitar/clarinet/bass/drum conversation can quickly slip into the subconscious ear… perhaps resulting in some interesting dreams? It’s a dramatic finale to a recording that should stay long in the conscious ear.

Visit Zacc Harris at http://zaccharris.com

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