Sonic Explorations of the Varitone

I am going to try to correlate two events that have happened recently in my life, even though they don't really have anything to do with each other. Throughout my life, people have told me that I have a strong intuitive sense about people, places and things around me. For example, I could always tell when a girlfriend was about to break up with me, or when someone close to me was in trouble. Granted, if your significant other hasn't called you in days, and is seeming distant when you are together, that's obviously a tell-tale sign that something is wrong.

But, the intuition I have is not as simple as that. After two weeks of obsessively listening to the music of Eddie Harris, I decided to write a post dedicated to his mastery of the Selmer varitone saxophone. Two days later, I notice that he is one of the main features in the latest Wax Poetics, and I hadn't heard about him being featured or read the article. Is this a coincidence? Maybe, but this isn't the first time something like this has happened, as a similar event happened two days ago.

I have been working a contract as an IT/helpdesk technician for just a little under two months. During the last week, I had been diligently multitasking to keep the customers happy and stay above water. There seemed to be a little tension amongst the team members, because we were all trying to get caught up with our projects. However, this behavior didnt seem to be anything out of the ordinary for a fastpaced IT environment. But, I could sense that my co-workers were acting distant, and I even verbalized this to one of the other temporary employees. I said, "It seems to me like our days are numbered". Sure enough.. two days later and the contract ends abruptly with no explanation. It was supposed to be a year contract, but they decided to pull the plug on the deal early.

Without further ado, let's get on to the music.

For those of you who don't know, I am a regular writer/contributor for the blog Ear Fuzz. I posted this review on Ear Fuzz a month ago, but the tracks were removed after two weeks due to server constraints. Here is a link to the original post with the tracks re-uploaded here.

Your comments are always appreciated!

Eddie Harris: Eddie Sings the Blues
From: Eddie Sings the Blues [Atlantic, 1972]

Eddie Harris: "Silver Cycles and Smoke Signals
From: Silver Cycles [Atlantic, 1969]

Eddie Harris: It's Crazy and Theme In Search of a T.V. Commercial
From: Plug Me In [Atlantic, 1968]

Eddie Harris: Listen Here and Sham Time
From: The Electrifying Eddie Harris [Atlantic, 1968]

Don Patterson with Sonny Stitt: Donny Brook
From: Donny Brook [Prestige, 1969]

Landon "Sonny" Cox: Chocolate Candy
From: 45 [Bell Records, 1969]

Jerome Richardson: Soul Cry Part One and Soul Cry Part Two
From: 45 [Verve, 1968]