Harpo Harpo this is the angel
and where did you get that sound so fine?
Harpo Harpo we gotta hear it, ooh ooh one more time
Harpo Harpo we're in the galaxies
and where did you get that sound so fine
Harpo Harpo we gotta hear it, ooh ooh one more time
When Harpo Played His Harp Jonathan Richman
On his second album, Harpo (I can't find the first, Harpo By Harpo), Harpo plays a literate selection of standards with the Freddy Katz Orchestra (me neither). The two elements you might expect - comedy and schmaltz - are nowhere in evidence. It's a work of art, sophisticated and meditative. The Third Stream jazz setting is highly unusual, imaginative, and intimately recorded. It really is like nothing else. And it really is beautiful.
But Harpo deserves a much wider audience, and respect rather than condescension, no matter how loving. If you can, ignore the associations of his name, and that wildly inappropriate cover, to discover a surprising 20th century classic.
In response to public demand for the reinstatement of the Stealth Link©, one has been surgically embedded in this comment.
ReplyDeleteAs an incentive, the loaddown includes a very special Free Gift for you, Mr. & Mrs. Consumer of Yourtown, U.S.A.!
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Oh, has it now?
DeleteWhy yes, Mr. SnorkySmith. That's the entire point.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFinest kind...and very generous of blogspot to refer to me as an author.
ReplyDeleteIt also tells us that "this comment has been removed" which is a puzzle in itself. Perhaps they mean "a" comment, rather than "this"?
DeleteMan, that Harpo is one cool cat. He wrote a book called "Harpo Speaks". Well worth reading. ( Holy COW! The included read! )
ReplyDeleteAs a teenager, I picked up a very bad habit from him of cutting people's ties with a large of large scissors.
Big thanks for this post.
Thanks! Curious about this one. I'm quite the fan of Fred(dy) Katz. A brilliant cellist/composer/arranger - best known for his work with Ken Nordine (Word Jazz + Son of Word Jazz), "inventing" chamber jazz with Chico Hamilton in the mid-to late 1950's and he also he plays kalimba on The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the references!
DeleteFreddy was the right man for the job
DeleteHere's Freddy with Chico Hamilton, along with Buddy Collette, Jim Hall and Carson Smith.
https://workupload.com/file/eArf4PHFmQk
Wow! Thanks for the Hamilton recordings. We've got Fred(dy) & Chico & Harpo; could Zeppo be far behind?
DeleteFellow Marx Bros fans may enjoy this. "The Annotated Marx Brothers" - every film annotated with comments, explanations, references, etc, etc. Epub version only.
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/XnBfZ3J2qQf
SS. Thx for the Marx bros pub. These guys were fantastic. I must be going.....
DeleteI think this is the earliest Marx Bros. clip, taken from their 1924 stage show (but filmed later).
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGwSGD-d52Y
Nearly one hundred years old.
"He sells frankfurters at the Merchant of Wieners" - genius!
DeleteWrongly quoted, but generally right!
DeleteIn a similar sense:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIw14TwJvZc
I've always thought Harpo should have been on the Bird With Strings sessions.
ReplyDeleteImagine the shenanigans: Benzedrine inhalers, reefers, hard liquor and dope. Bird and Harpo breaking Mitch Millers ballz (bonus points if you remember "Sing Along With Mitch").
Just read about Harpo and the harp. He used a tuning he devised himself and it had slacker strings which meant a different sound.
ReplyDeleteHere's his first album, Farq.
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/kyWshXTgdWK
Great catch! Thank 'ee!
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