Swiss Movement as a hybrid stereo SACD from the Atlantic 75 Series: Les McCann and Eddie Harris live at Montreux in 1969, five performances in their original order – from the vocal opener “Compared to What” to the closing “The Generation Gap”.
A festival set with a history
Montreux, 21 June 1969: Les McCann at the piano, Eddie Harris on tenor saxophone – and a festival set that became Swiss Movement. The opener, “Compared to What”, brings McCann’s voice to a song by Gene McDaniels whose questions hit hard in the political climate of the late sixties. The song was no newcomer for him: McCann had already recorded it in 1966. In Montreux, a familiar piece finds a second life in front of an audience.
On stage stands a quintet. Benny Bailey adds trumpet, Leroy Vinnegar plays bass and Donald Dean drums. Keep those three names in mind and the record opens up: the famous partnership rests on a complete band, with two horns and a rhythm section that carries long performances without needing a new arrangement every few bars.
More than the famous opener
McCann sings only on “Compared to What”; the other four selections are instrumentals. Harris wrote “Cold Duck Time”, while “Kathleen’s Theme”, “You Got It in Your Soulness” and “The Generation Gap” come from McCann. So the programme shows more than the performance that became its calling card – it introduces both leaders as composers with material of their own.
Follow the handover from the vocal to the instrumental statements, then stay with the accompaniment for a while. How does a repeated figure carry the next soloist? At what moment does the band change its response? These are the questions that make an album come alive whose identity is musicians sharing a stage.
Listen for the second horn
Benny Bailey’s trumpet gives Harris a second instrumental voice to play against. Following each of them on their own is revealing; if you then return to Vinnegar and Dean, you hear how both soloists relate to the same pulse. McCann’s piano links those roles together.
The album carries the production credits of Nesuhi Ertegun and Bob Emmer. Its five selections keep the shape of the original release – “Kaftan”, known from expanded CD editions, came later and is not part of this programme. What remains is the performance that made Swiss Movement a live classic.
The Atlantic 75 hybrid stereo SACD
CAPA 071 SA is a hybrid stereo SACD from the Analogue Productions Atlantic 75 Series. The SACD layer plays on SACD-capable players, the CD layer on any conventional CD player. The disc contains the five performances of the original album, including “Compared to What” and “Cold Duck Time”.
You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and ship from Hilden.
More from the series: Atlantic 75 Series
Also in another edition: Swiss Movement
Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe
Musicians
Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.
| Name | Instrument / role |
|---|---|
| Eddie Harris | Tenor saxophone |
| Les McCann | Vocals, Piano |
| Benny Bailey | Trumpet |
| Leroy Vinnegar | Bass |
| Donald Dean | Drums |
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