Harvie S Trio: Going For It

  Here’s a thrilling surprise: a 1985 nightclub appearance by the ad hoc Harvie S Trio with guitarist Mike Stern and master drummer Alan Dawson. The story behind Going For It is that about 35 years after these recordings were made, bassist Harvie S learned during a casual conversation about the good old days that superfan David Lee had cassettes of all three fabled nights. Stern and Harvie went back to the Seventies, and when a short run opened up at Cambridge’s 1369 Jazz Club, the two talked and then enlisted Dawson for the gig. As Harvie’s liner notes tell us, there “was no rehearsal, no set list, no discussion ...” They just set up, called a tune, and they were off. Stern is brilliant, brimming with ideas and the chops to execute whatever he hears. Harvie S, who recorded with Steve Kuhn, Sheila Jordan, and Jim Hall in the mid-Eighties, is his usual dependably swinging self. And what can I say about Alan Dawson? Because he stayed in Boston, he never really got the recognition he deserved. I first heard his work on a glorious series of Booker Ervin albums on Prestige, and that was enough to get me hooked on his playing. Harvie S calls him “without a doubt one of the greatest drummers and educators of all time ...” and notes that the music on this disc “shows a side of him rarely heard on his other recordings.” Dawson’s playing is impeccable throughout the hour, and his dynamic solo on John Coltrane’s Moment’s Notice is reason enough to grab this CD. With two microphones feeding a cassette player in the middle of the room, Lee managed to capture the music surprisingly well. Don’t miss this one. 

Savant SCD 2195; Mike Stern (g) Harvie S (b) Alan Dawson (d); Cambridge, MA, 1985; On Green Dolphin Street/ Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise/ Peace/ Like Someone in Love/ Moment’s Notice/ Windows/ Bruze; 62:24. www.jazzdepot.com