Swiss Movement
1969 live album by Les McCann and Eddie Harris
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Swiss Movement is a soul jazz[1] live album recorded on June 21, 1969 at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland by the Les McCann trio, with saxophonist Eddie Harris and trumpeter Benny Bailey.[2][3] The album was a hit record, as was the accompanying single "Compared to What", with both selling millions of units.[1]
| Swiss Movement | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 1969 | |||
| Recorded | June 21, 1969 | |||
| Venue | Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux, Switzerland | |||
| Genre | Soul jazz | |||
| Length | 39:06 | |||
| Label | Atlantic | |||
| Producer | Nesuhi Ertegün, Bob Emmer | |||
| Eddie Harris chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Les McCann chronology | ||||
| ||||
Reception and influence
The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of best jazz performance, small group.[7] It reached No. 1 on Billboard's jazz album chart, No. 2 on the R&B chart,[8] and No. 29 on the LP chart.[9][10]
Harvey Pekar, writing for DownBeat in a contemporary review, panned the album as "cliche-ridden".[5]
A Billboard writer commented in 2006 that "what put Montreux on the recorded-live-in-concert map was the legendary Swiss Movement album".[11] Writing in AllMusic, Richie Unterberger calls Swiss Movement "one of the most popular soul jazz albums of all time, and one of the best."[4]
The tapes of this impromptu concert were originally recorded by the festival's organisers and then passed on to Atlantic, who decided to release them after paying a fee of less than $100.[12]
McCann and Harris teamed up again for a follow-up recording, Second Movement, released in 1971.[13]
Track listing
- "Compared to What" – (Gene McDaniels): 8:41
- "Cold Duck Time" – (Eddie Harris): 6:31
- "Kathleen's Theme" – (Les McCann): 5:45
- "You Got It in Your Soulness" – (Les McCann): 7:08
- "The Generation Gap" – (Les McCann): 8:45
- "Kaftan" – (Leroy Vinnegar) – bonus track on the 1996 reissue
Personnel
- Eddie Harris – tenor saxophone
- Les McCann – piano, vocals on "Compared to What"
- Benny Bailey – trumpet
- Leroy Vinnegar – bass
- Donald Dean – drums