Swiss Movement

In front of a packed crowd at the Montreux Jazz Festival on June 21, 1969, Harris and trumpeter Benny Bailey joined McCann’s trio for a spirited and largely off-the-cuff set of R&B-inflected jazz. The unrehearsed nature of the performance is what gives the recording its fire. Harris’ mercurial, often transcendent runs on the saxophone are the perfect complement to McCann’s steady, soulful chords. In a reflection of the times, there are dual energies at work here, and the music embodies both free-flowing peaceful feelings, and brimming rage. Eugene McDaniels’ “Compared to What” was the breakout hit, a rushing, celebratory expression of political frustration that takes the backbeat from the Stones’ “Satisfaction” and turns it into a free jazz anthem. Producer Joel Dorn made sure everything sounded live, and decades later, the album still comes off like lightning in a bottle. Its massive success won creative freedom for Harris and McCann in their solo ventures, but neither would be able to duplicate the fire generated by this meeting, their sole collaboration.