Things To Do |

Remembering a Chicago jazz master: Eddie Harris

The last time Chicago jazz giant Eddie Harris played his hometown, in April/May of 1996, he obviously wasn’t well.

The saxophonist, who once commanded a huge, blues-inflected sound, didn’t show a fraction of the energy and wind of years past.

But he put so much intensity of feeling into his playing that opening night at the Jazz Showcase that the performance stood as one of the most memorable of the year.

“His sound is smaller, his tone less resplendent, his technique considerably less adroit than in the past,” I wrote in my review. “Those who remember Harris for his sweeping recording of ‘Exodus,’ a national pop hit in the ’60s, or for his numerous Chicago visits with pianist Les McCann, barely would recognize the muted sound and clipped phrases that now define his playing.

“Yet Harris is a fighter, and just as he has been battling his illness, so has he been struggling to make music. He may have a reduced supply of air with which to create and shape sound, he may not be able to muster the exuberant rhythmic swing of old, but the desire to play rages as fervently within him as ever.”

By November, Harris would be dead at age 62, due to bone cancer and kidney disease. But anyone who heard him at what turned out to be his farewell performance in the city where he grew up never will forget it.

Nor should listeners lose sight of Harris’ stature in the Chicago jazz pantheon, even though he moved to the West Coast in the mid-1970s.

To educate new generations about Harris’ achievements, this year’s JazzCity concerts in the parks — curated, as always, by the nonprofit Jazz Institute of Chicago — will be devoted to Harris’ legacy, starting this weekend.

“I strongly believe that Eddie Harris did not get his due from our hometown,” says Chicago pianist Miguel de la Cerna, who programmed the concert series with former Jazz Institute executive director Lauren Deutsch.

“He didn’t get his due nationally or worldwide, either, even with his albums selling so much.”

Indeed, “Exodus to Jazz” (1961) — with its hit single recording of the famous movie theme — became the first jazz album to be certified gold. And “Swiss Movement” (1969), which featured Harris with Les McCann at the Montreux Jazz Festival, also raced up the charts.

But as is often the case in jazz, Harris’ mass popularity drew contempt from many jazz critics, as if commercial success and artistic accomplishment were mutually exclusive.

In truth, Harris was a restless innovator, expanding the boundaries of jazz and the means by which it could be made. He proved it was possible to create worthy music on electric saxophone; conjured novel sonic effects by daring to put a trumpet mouthpiece on a saxophone and a reed mouthpiece on a trumpet; sang through his horn; penned the classic “Freedom Jazz Dance,” which Miles Davis immortalized on his “Miles Smiles” album; and consistently challenged jazz orthodoxy.

“He was just an original, innovative thinker,” adds de la Cerna.

Which is part of why JazzCity will spotlight his legacy this year.

“This is a continuation of the direction we were turning toward with JazzCity, when we did the year of Vonski,” says Deutsch, referring to a Von Freeman retrospective. “Eddie seemed like the next likely subject for a number of reasons, especially given his curiosity and experimentation throughout his life.

“That’s a direct connection to a lot of the ways that younger artists today are moving along those same paths that he pioneered. But probably in many cases without the knowledge that there was a person like Eddie Harris in the history of Chicago jazz.”

To underscore the point, the series will begin on Friday evening at Foster Park, on West 84th Street, with “NextGenJazz: Freedom Jazz Dance,” in which Chicago saxophonist Jarrard Harris will present a quintet of young jazz musicians playing music by Harris and influenced by him.

Future Harris-themed JazzCity concerts will spotlight “Women of Chicago Jazz” including bassist Marlene Rosenberg on March 6 at Garfield Park Conservatory; “Compared to What? Chris Greene Quintet” April 3 at Loyola Park; and so forth through the end of the year.

“We’re telling Chicago stories with JazzCity,” says Jazz Institute executive director Heather Ireland Robinson. “We’re not just saying: Look at this cool stuff that happened in Chicago.

“It’s a look at Chicago’s role in jazz. We know about Eddie, but the world doesn’t know.”

“NextGenJazz: Freedom Jazz Dance” will begin at 7 p.m. Friday at Foster Park, 1440 W. 84th St.; free; 312-427-1676 or www.jazzinchicago.org.

‘Cavalleria Rusticana’

Riccardo Muti returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra podium to lead a concert performance of Mascagni’s one-act opera. Soloists will include mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili, tenor Piero Pretti and baritone Luca Salsi. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.; ticket prices vary; 312-294-3000 or www.cso.org.

Howard Reich is a Tribune critic.

hreich@chicagotribune.com