Jody Harris
| Jody Harris | |
|---|---|
| Born | United States |
| Genres | Surf rock Rock No wave |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Electric guitar |
| Years active | 1973–1990 |
| Labels | ZE Don't Fall Off the Mountain Press Shanachie Antilles Infidelity Lust/Unlust Celluloid |
| Associated acts | The Contortions Raybeats Golden Palominos Robert Quine The Voidoids |
Jody Harris is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer who was born in Kansas[1] and became a central figure in the seminal No Wave scene in New York City in the 1970s.
Contents |
[edit] Career history
Harris was lead guitarist in the Contortions, perhaps the most influential of the No Wave bands. He was also a key member of a number of bands that emerged from the No Wave scene, including the Raybeats and the Golden Palominos.
Harris has also recorded as a solo artist and with guitarist Robert Quine. In 1977, he joined Quine in a band backing rock critic Lester Bangs on Bangs' album, Let It Blurt, produced by John Cale.[2] He was also briefly a member of the Voidoids and played on many recordings by a wide range of artists, including Matthew Sweet, Syd Straw, Kip Hanrahan and John Zorn.
With Quine, he composed all the music on their collaborative album, Escape, as well as co-writing virtually all the Raybeats' material. He also composed all the songs and instrumentals on his one solo album, except for one song co-written with Don Christensen. As part of Anton Fier's supergroup the Golden Palominos, he co-wrote the majority of the songs on the band's acclaimed second album, Visions of Excess.
[edit] Critical appraisals
One esteemed critic described Harris as a "seasoned campaigner from the late-70's flowering of American postpunk",[3] while another called him "one of the most underrated guitarists" on the New York scene.[4]
Robert Palmer, writing in the New York Times in 1987, praised "the luminous clarity" of Harris's lead guitar work for the Golden Palominos,[5] while the Village Voice's Robert Christgau obliquely criticized what he called a "weakness for the genre exercise".[6] Quine himself, however, declared Harris's work "tragically underrated -- he's so far advanced, way past me and people can't hear it".[7]
[edit] Discography
[edit] The Contortions
- No New York (Antilles 1978)
- Buy (1979)
- Paris 1980 Live Aux Bains Douches (1980)
- Live in New York (1981)
- NY No Wave (ZE 2003)
[edit] The Raybeats
- Start Swimming (Stiff 1981) (live compilation)
- Roping Wild Bears (Don't Fall Off the Mountain 1981)
- Guitar Beat (PVC/Passport 1981)
- It's Only A Movie! (Shanachie 1983)
- Children of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the Second Psychedelic Era, 1976-1995 (Rhino 2005)
[edit] Solo
- It Happened One Night (Press 1982)
[edit] Jody Harris & Robert Quine
- Escape (Infidelity \ Lust/Unlust Music 1981)
- Come Together: Guitar Tribute to the Beatles, Vol. 2 (NYC 1995) (compilation)
[edit] The Golden Palominos
- Visions of Excess (Celluloid 1985)
- Blast of Silence (Celluloid 1986)
[edit] Richard Hell and the Voidoids
- Funhunt (ROIR / Important 1989)
[edit] Other artists
- Let It Blurt - Lester Bangs (SPY 1977)
- Off White - James White & The Blacks (ZE 1979)
- Lizzy Mercier Descloux (ZE 1980)
- Stop Vicious Cycles - Jill Kroesen (Vital 1982)
- Desire Develops an Edge - Kip Hanrahan (American Clavé)
- The Big Gundown - John Zorn (Nonesuch 1986)
- Inside - Matthew Sweet (Columbia 1986)
- Surprise - Syd Straw (1989)
- The Trouble Tree - Freedy Johnston (Bar/None 1990)
- Music for Films (Tzadik)
[edit] References
- ^ The Tone Zone, Raybeats official website
- ^ Perfect Sound Forever, May 2007
- ^ New York Times, Apr. 15, 1987
- ^ Trouser Press
- ^ New York Times, Apr. 15, 1987
- ^ Christgau's Consumer Guide, Jan. 7, 1986
- ^ Perfect Sound Forever, Nov. 1997
[edit] External links
- Jody Harris-penned tribute to Robert Quine in Perfect Sound Forever, May 2007
- Interview with Dusted webzine
