There are several compelling reasons for supporting Kamala Harris’s bid for the United States presidency. She’s smart, she’s edgy, she’s accomplished, and she’s empathetic to those in need. The fact that she’s a woman of color shouldn’t matter, but until that highest of glass ceilings is shattered, I suppose it must. The flip side of her political wonkiness is the fact that she likes to dance. She knows not to clap on the one and three, and her moves easily keep up with the little kids with whom she’s often seen dancing.
She also seems to have a wide-ranging taste in music, from hip-hop and gospel to pop and African folk. She has expressed her admiration for Prince, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga, and recently said her favorite album was Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life. The album was released in 1976; Kamala Harris was 12 years old.
Like me, I assume Ms. Harris changes her mind about a favorite record on a weekly if not daily basis. There’s too much great music for one single record to sit atop anybody’s personal play list for any extended period. And like Ms. Harris, Songs in the Key of Life, has topped my list from time to time. I’m especially fond of Wonder’s “Sir Duke,” a jazz-inspired tune whose infectious rhythms dare the listener to not tap a foot.
And then came that magical moment when Madame Vice President was seen exiting the front door of Home Rule Records, a Black-owned purveyor of vinyl records in Washington, D.C. She had made a purchase of three LPs that she delighted in showing the small press gathering: Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s Porgy and Bess studio album from 1959, and Charles Mingus’ 1972 avant-garde Let My Children Hear Music. “Really one of the greatest jazz performers ever,” Harris said of the legendary bassist. Her assessment is spot on.
She also took home one of her personal favorites—Roy Ayers’s timeless 1976 album Everybody Loves the Sunshine.
If I’d pay closer attention to People magazine, I’d have known before this week that the Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff is a jazz fan. His admiration for the genre was great enough to borrow jazz names for his children from his first marriage: Cole, as in Coltrane, and Ella, as in Fitzgerald. I, too, wanted to name my son after a jazz great. Geri, however, thought that Thelonious, as in Thelonious Monk, was too much.
When Kamala Harris wins this November’s election, she will be known to me as Prez, the title bestowed on tenor saxophonist Lester Young. In the meantime I’ll share a list of some highly recommended recordings. Maybe she’ll want to share hers.
Titles are common in the world of jazz, from Duke, as in Ellington, and Count, as in Basie. Both have contributed greatly to that world in a variety of forms. From Ellington I would suggest his 1967 studio album …And His Mother Called Him Bill in the wake of the 1967 death of his long-time collaborator, Billy Strayhorn. A studio album by Duke Ellington recorded in the wake of the 1967 death of his long-time collaborator, Billy Strayhorn. It won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 1968. And from the ever-driven blues-based Count, his 1983 88 Basie Street won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance.
I’m a big fan of big band music. I like the swing of the era that gave us Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and the Dorsey Brothers. But I also enjoy the big bands that delivered what could almost be called concert music. Among that latter group come such examples as Oliver Nelson’s The Blues and the Abstract Truth with Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy, Bill Evans (his only appearance with Nelson), Paul Chambers and Roy Haynes.
Following in those footsteps comes the Liberation Music Orchestra, the brainchild of bassist Charlie Haden. Its 1982 album The Ballad of the Fallen on ECM commented again on the Spanish Civil War as well as United States involvement in Latin America.
Politics came into play for many jazz artists in the 1960s, including Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, with vocals by his then-wife Abbey Lincoln and lyrics by Oscar Brown Jr. In 1962, he recorded the album Money Jungle, a collaboration with Mingus and Duke Ellington. This is generally regarded as one of the finest trio albums ever recorded.
A Genuine Tong Funeral is an album by vibraphonist Gary Burton featuring compositions by Carla Bley recorded in 1967. It features Burton with Bley herself on keyboards and conducting an expanded ensemble consisting of trumpeter Michael Mantler, trombonist Jimmy Knepper, tenor saxophonist Gato Barbieri, soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy, baritone saxophonist Howard Johnson, guitarist Larry Coryell, bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bob Moses.
Politics notwithstanding, vibraphonist Terry Gibbs, today mere months away from celebrating his 100th birthday, started the Dream Band when he moved from New York to Hollywood in 1959. Swing was Gibbs’s religion, and the Dream Band kept the faith. In another example of unadulterated swing comes the Toshiko Akiyoshi—Lew Tabackin Big Band’s rendering of “Road Time Shuffle” from its Road Time release.
East Broadway Run Down (1966), which featured trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones, is a must-have recording from Sonny Rollins. So too is Benny Carter Meets Oscar Peterson, a 1986 album by alto saxophonist Benny Carter, featuring the pianist Oscar Peterson and guitarist Joe Pass.
Ms. Harris is probably familiar with many of the records I’ve mentioned here. But there’s one I’d like her to hear. It’s a record made in 1985 with bassist John Heard, pianist Tom Ranier and drummer Sherman Ferguson. Heard Ranier Ferguson, on the ITI label, is one of my favorite records—and not just because I produced it.
Photo illustration by Courtney A. Liska
Vichyssoise
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 to 1 ½ pounds leeks, white and light green parts only, chopped
2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
Salt and Pepper to taste
4 whole garlic cloves
4 cups chicken Stock
¾ cup heavy cream
Sour cream, for garnish
Chives, for garnish
Basil Oil:
3 cups Mixed Green Herbs (Basil, Parsley, Spinach, Cilantro)
1 cup Grape Seed Oil
Sweat the onion in a pot until translucent.
Add the leeks and the potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Add the garlic and the chicken stock (just enough to cover the vegetables). Cook at a medium heat until the potatoes are tender and can be smashed with ease, about 45 minutes to an hour.
Use an immersion blender to purée the mixture until smooth. Once blended, stir in 1 to 1 ½ cups of cream. Allow the soup to cool and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.
Pour the chilled Vichyssoise into serving bowls. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream in the center, adding the basil oil to decorate.
Garnish with parsley or basil.
Basil Oil:
In a blender, combine basil leaves, Italian parsley, spinach leaves, and grape seed oil. Blend for about 2-3 minutes or until you achieve a vivid green color.
Transfer the mixture to a pot and heat to about 190°F (approx. 90°C). Maintain this temperature for 5 to 10 minutes. Strain the mixture to remove solids, squeezing out as much oil as possible.
Store the oil in a squeeze bottle in the fridge for easy decoration. The oil will keep for 6 to 8 weeks in the fridge.