Joe Harriott

Joe Harriott (1928-1973) died tragically young at 44 but, like his idol Charlie Parker, he was an influential force, helping to pull British jazz into unexplored territory, particularly with his innovative experiments in free form jazz and indo-jazz fusions.

Born in Jamaica, he moved to London in the early 1950s performing with Dizzy Reece and Joe Mudele. He joined Tony Kinsey in 1954 and became a fixture of the strong post-bop scene in London at the time, while equally happy working in more traditional settings with artists like George Chisholm. In 1959, at the same time as Ornette Coleman was working on The Shape of Jazz To Come, Harriott had independently developed an abstract approach to jazz with a quintet featuring Shake Keane, Pat Smythe, Coleridge Goode and Phil Seaman. The group released Free Form in 1960, and (with percussionist Frank Holder and drummer Bobby Orr added) Abstract in 1962. Harriott’s version of abstraction and freedom has a passion that makes them stand up well today.

After Shake Keane left the band in 1965, Harriott worked with Michael Garrick on several of his key albums, before branching out again with his collaborations with violinist John Mayer with three Indo-Jazz albums that were again ahead of their time in their pioneering spirit. An album with Amancio D’Silva followed in 1969, but by the early 1970s he was severely weakened by cancer and living in poverty. He died in 1973.

Key Recordings:
Free Form (Euphonium 1960)
Abstract (Redial 1962)
Indo-Jazz Suite (Koch 1966)