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Don 'Sugarcane' Harris
At the Raven in 1981

Editor's Tribute
and more live music

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Don 'Sugarcane' Harris
unpublished recordings

Here are some excerpts from live concerts, many in mono, most recorded on the worst, cheapest portable cassette machines before the word 'walkman' was ever invented.

Still, you can get something of an idea of what Don was playing on those occasions and if you knew him at all, you can tell by listening to his intonation what he was "into" at the time (knudge, wink).

It's 2004. I've removed some of the streaming stuff since we don't do that anymore. I'll try to put up some MP3 "RealSoonNow" .

Download these RealAudio 5 excerpts
On a PC, it's SHIFT/click. Mac? unix?

Johnny Staccato at the Raven with Sugarcane Harris
Sugarcane, Lagos, Resnick at the Raven in 1981

Feb. 1981, Raven and the Rose, Sierra Madre, CA:

Funk in Dm
This is a solo section of some obscure cover tune, but it gives great insight into Don's funk soloing style. Sugarcane's use of pauses and accents in otherwise linear phrases of eigth or sixteenth notes are one of the main factors that distinguish his 4/4 playing from that of other electric violinists. Thanks to Chris Williams, Pete Abraham and Randy Freiling for recording this gig.

Shuffle in C - the essential Sugarcane blues phrasing
Nice short excerpt. The phrasing tells a story and really swings. Qualities come through in spite of the poor sound system.

Souls' On Fire guitar and violin solos (almost 1 meg here)
Resnick and Harris surprise the denizens of this SoCal bar with extended jazz-influenced solos

1969 or 1970, Ash Grove, Los Angeles: cadenza eleanor rigby

Sept. 10, 1971, The Headband, Santa Barbara: my soul's on fire

? Univ of Calif, Davis: Bad Feet This is a pretty good lesson in how to play funky blues violin (ignoring the intonation - see above). The audience was spellbound during these maniacal flights of fancy.