Everette Harp
All For You
Perhaps Paul Jackson, Jr., the famed R&B/jazz guitarist who graces four tracks on Everette Harp’s highly anticipated, sensuous and groove intensive A440 Music Group debut All For You, said it best about the veteran saxman: “You play every solo as if it’s your last.” That sense of emotional urgency, combined with Harp’s deep-seated desire to truly feel the passion behind every melody he plays, takes the collection - his first since 2000’s For The Love - to creative and harmonic heights few R&B influenced smooth jazz recordings dare to venture.
“I’m really back to doing what I do best on this record, which is take some great tunes and play to the heart of the song in the way that the song dictates, not being influenced by anything else happening in the genre,” says the saxman. “Every song doesn’t have to have a whole story behind it, but it has to touch a chord and I’ve really got to like it, whether I wrote it or not. I like to add some blowing solo sections to create more of a player’s vibe, because I didn’t get into this genre just to play nice melodies. I did it because I love jazz, and the adventurous nature of improvisation. My whole career, I’ve had a good time combining contemporary R&B with improv elements, and that’s the kind of energy I wanted on All For You.”
Back to producing or co-producing every track, Harp turned the sessions for the 12 mostly uptempo tunes into something of an all-star collaborative affair, drawing inspiration from explosive interactions with famed guitarists Dwight Sills, Norman Brown and Earl Klugh. Sills’ crisp electric strings bounce hardcore off the wall of Harp’s intense blowing on the swinging/smooth stretchout tune “Hey Yeh,” while Brown jams note for note before he and the saxman attempt to best each other’s solos on the brass-splashed slamming funk of “Just Like Ole Times.” The legendary acoustic player Klugh has always been a master of mellow funk, and adds that cooler, simmering vibe to “I Remember When,” which features Harp on tenor rather than his trademark alto.
Behind the boards, Harp worked with R&B producer, keyboardist, and bassist Shaun Labelle and Rex Rideout, who has produced top R&B and jazz talent like Richard Elliot, Will Downing, and Al Jarreau. The Labelle cuts include the hypnotic and seductive “Time of Our Lives” (featuring Harp showing off his “hidden talent” as a lead vocalist!), the thumpin’ brass-drenched singalong “Groove Control” (with vocal adlibs by R&B icon Howard Hewitt), a return to the old school of soul on the mid-tempo “It’s Just The Way That You Love Me” and the easy grooving, discovery of love gem “I Like The Way.” Harp plays a punchy flute harmony line on the blues driven first single “Can You Hear Me,” a song he wrote with Rideout and Ronnie Garrett and co-produced with Rideout. “That one really allows me to stretch out and play through some changes,” says Harp. “The flute part reminds me of the sound of Hubert Laws playing on my favorite old 60s and 70s classic jazz records from CTI.”
No Harp recording would be complete without a key creative contribution by George Duke, the legendary jazz/funk keyboardist and longtime Harp mentor who helped the saxman get his first deal with Blue Note in the early 90s. The two wrote the album’s closing track, the wistful and lush ballad “In the Blink of An Eye” in an incredible 45 minutes; Harp expresses the simple, lyrical melody via a combination of soprano sax and EWI. He plays both alto and an Akai EWI on the light funk romance “Back In Your Arms.” All For You’s lone cover song is a soulful, finger snap and backing vocal enhanced spin on Babyface’s “When Can I See You Again.”
Harp also engineered 90 percent of the music on All For You and with the help of longtime cohort Erik Zobler mixed the CD as well. "I spent as much time behind the board as a recording engineering, programmer, writer, producer, and audio editor as I did being an artist,” he says. “It's something I've always enjoyed. I'm a closet tech head.”
When smooth jazz became all about the groove, incorporating more R&B and hip-hop influences in the mid-90s, the Houston born saxman—a Baptist preacher’s kid who was raised in church and weaned on gospel—found himself ahead of the curve. His first two Blue Note recordings Everette Harp (1992) and Common Ground (1994) were already leaning this way, while his popular 1997 tribute to Marvin Gaye's 1971 watershed album What's Going On combined the best of his two worlds--modern day contemporary jazz and the classic soul he grew up with. Better Days (1998) and For The Love (2000) further solidified his place in the upper echelons of smooth jazz.
Harp moved to Los Angeles in 1988, and his career as a sideman took off; after a brief tour with Teena Marie, he traveled internationally with Anita Baker (an association that went on and off until 1995), performed with Sheena Easton and Kenny Loggins and began developing his studio chops behind such artists as Patti Labelle. Harp signed a solo deal with Manhattan/Blue Note in 1992 and recorded his self titled debut between tours with George Duke and Marcus Miller.
That album's popularity led to further developments which established Harp as one of smooth jazz's greatest ambassadors - a date at the Montreux Jazz Festival; a tour with labelmate Rachelle Ferrell; playing alongside President Clinton, performing "Your Mama Don't Dance" at the 1993 inaugural ball (Clinton borrowed one of Harp's saxes for the occasion!); and appearing weekly with The Posse on "The Arsenio Hall Show." In the later Nineties, his sax was heard performing the theme song for Entertainment Tonight, as well as The Soul Train Theme (produced by George Duke), which is still being heard over the main titles. He also played the main title theme to "Roger Ebert & The Movies."
Over the years, Harp has also performed and/or recorded with a wide variety of pop, R&B and jazz superstars - Luther Vandross, Dionne Warwick, Jeffrey Osborne, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, Al Jarreau, Phil Perry, Natalie Cole, Chante Moore, Will Downing, John Tesh, Branford Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter, Chaka Khan, Stanley Clarke, Michael McDonald and Larry Carlton, among others. Most recently, he has done spot dates on tour with Wayne Henderson and The Jazz Crusaders.
While Harp cut back on his side gigs in recent years to focus more on his solo career and other musical endeavors, his association with Loggins (as sideman and/or musical director) continued on and off for 12 years through early 2003. For several years during that time, he opened the singer/songwriter’s concerts with his own band before joining Loggins as keyboardist, saxophonist and backing vocalist.
"I love playing for other artists because I can show up, have a good time and not have to worry about anything beyond doing a great performance," Harp says. "I've learned so much from working with different performers. But my real creative enjoyment comes from doing my own shows and interacting with fans who come to hear my music. The business side of things can let you down, but nothing can take away the aesthetic enjoyment of playing live. I love pouring my heart and soul out and getting people excited. I love to talk to the audience, too. If I talk to them and get them laughing, they seem to open up so much so that it adds to the overall enjoyment of the performance.”
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