Jazz Birthday: Bill Harris (1916)

Bill Harris was a neat trombonist who furthered the transition from swing to modern sounds. He plays “Apple Honey” followed by “Woodchoppers’ Ball” here with Terry Gibbs and Red Mitchell, whose birthdays we’ve already noted, plus Lou Levy and Stan Levey. Listen to his ballad work on “Everything Happens To Me” (composed by Matt Dennis).

“The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.” (Robert Louis Stevenson)

It’s comforting to know that there are people in all walks of life, including music, who are pursuing honest work all over the planet, in the face of countless problems, and that far from their minds are violent intentions; it’s not so comforting to know that these same people and others belong to and support social and political organizations that engage them in continual violence.

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6:21 am on October 28, 2012