A festival performance with a longer history
Montreux, 21 June 1969: Les McCann at the piano, Eddie Harris on tenor saxophone, and a festival set that would become Swiss Movement. The opening performance, “Compared to What”, brings McCann’s voice into a song written by Gene McDaniels. Its questions had particular force against the political tensions of the late sixties. Yet the relationship was already established: McCann had recorded the composition in 1966. Montreux catches a familiar song finding another life in front of an audience.
The musicians form a quintet. Benny Bailey adds trumpet, Leroy Vinnegar plays bass and Donald Dean drums. Keeping those three names in mind changes how you approach the record. The headline partnership depends on a complete group, with two horns and a rhythm section that can sustain an extended performance without requiring a new arrangement every few bars.
Beyond the opening song
McCann sings on “Compared to What”; the remaining four selections are instrumental. Harris contributes “Cold Duck Time”, while “Kathleen’s Theme”, “You Got It in Your Soulness” and “The Generation Gap” are McCann compositions. The programme therefore reveals more than the performance that became its calling card. It also introduces the leaders as writers with material of their own.
Try following the handover from vocal to instrumental statements, then listen to the accompaniment for a while. How does a repeated figure support the next soloist? At what point does the group alter its response? Those are useful questions for an album whose identity comes from musicians sharing time on a stage.
Remember the second horn
Bailey’s trumpet gives Harris another instrumental voice to work beside. Following each separately can be revealing; returning to Vinnegar and Dean afterwards makes it easier to hear how the soloists relate to the same underlying pulse. McCann’s piano provides another point of contact between those roles.
The released album carries the production credits of Nesuhi Ertegun and Bob Emmer. Its five selections preserve the shape of the original LP programme. “Kaftan”, familiar from expanded CD editions, is a later addition to that programme and is not included here. This edition centres on the performances that made up the original album.
The Atlantic 75 edition
AAPA 071-45 is the Analogue Productions edition on two 180-gram records playing at 45 RPM, housed in a Stoughton tip-on gatefold. The title-specific publisher description does not identify a mastering engineer or tape source. Specifications attached to the separate SACD edition therefore do not describe this vinyl release.
Michael 45 keeps the goods in Germany and dispatches from Hilden, enabling customers in Germany and across the EU to avoid organising a personal US import or waiting for customs processing.
More from the series: Atlantic 75 Series
Also on SACD: Swiss Movement
Customer questions: Atlantic 75: which titles are worth buying? · Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe
Series: Atlantic 75 Series – all 75 albums, time journey and the people behind Atlantic
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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