Come On Down!

The title refers to Eddie Harris’ relocation in 1970 to Atlantic’s Criteria Studio in Miami, Florida — a change in locale plainly represented by the white sand beach and outsized orange that obscures Harris’ picture in the front cover image. The idea was to pair Harris with some of the studio’s top session players, many of whom had contributed key parts to classic records by Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett. Bassist Duck Dunn and drummer Tubby Ziegler provide a rock solid foundation, while dueling accompaniment is generated by the pairings of keyboardists Billy Carter and Dave Crawford, and guitarists Jim O’Rourke and Cornell Dupree. “Don’t You Know the Future’s In Space” is a gritty floating R&B riff over which Harris squalls. Though it is the least flashy, “Really?” is the album’s best song. Its mournful existential blues shows that Harris is one of the few saxophonists who is able to simply “be,” without committing to an overpowering movement towards a single direction.