London Harris

Lured out of retirement by bassist Ray Brown after taking extensive time off from the road, pianist Gene Harris recorded extensively from the mid-'80s until shortly before his untimely death in early 2000. This is the second Resonance CD to come from a 1996 engagement at London's Pizza Express, features the pianist with a group of European musicians (Scottish guitarist Jim Mullen plus two Englishmen, bassist Andrew Clyendert and drummer Martin Drew, the latter of whom worked extensively with Oscar Peterson). While they had not played together prior to this engagement, they are very much on the same wavelength. "Sweet Georgia Brown" opens softly, with Mullen showing a funky touch, but as the piece develops Harris takes hold with his driving soulful technique…

It's wonderful to finally have an official release of the late Judee Sill's recordings done for the BBC during 1972 and 1973. They have been bootlegged for years, passed from person to person among the – then few – faithful on ragged umpteenth-generation cassettes…