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Funky 16 Corners
Interview with Donald Harris of the mighty
by Larry Grogan | |
I recently had the chance to talk
with Donald Harris, tenor player with the mid-70's edition of Indianapolis
funk/soul masters the Rhythm Machine. Here he reminisces about his time in the
band, the recording of their 1975 album, and his life today. | |
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The
cover of the one and only LP by the Rhythm Machine |
Can
you talk a bit about your musical history before the Rhythm Machine?
What
kind of music were you playing/listening to?
I have always had a love for music, and entertaining as
far back as I can remember.
My parents played lots of blues records like BB King and Bobby Bland.
I started trying instruments to see which ones I could play.
I started taking piano lessons, but the teacher (Miss Cameron) would slap
my fingers with a book whenever I would hit the wrong notes.
This made me
not
like the piano so much. I then
experimented with the trumpet and was terrible.
I also tried the bass guitar, but quit when bass players started playing
with their fingers instead of their thumb.
I could only play a song called Master Groove (by Henry Peters and The
Imperials).
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The Rhythm Machine 1975:
Hopie Bronson (in hat), Meride Williams (front)
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It played the same lick over and over. There were no changes in that song at all. I finally started
playing the clarinet in about the sixth grade.
I would hang around my brother's band and play a note or two every
once in a while.
Eventually, I was able to play well enough to fake a couple of the James
Brown tunes like "Cold Sweat", and "Lickin' Stick".
Buddy Miles had band
that practiced across the street from our house on 25th Avenue (In Omaha,
NE.) I would sit and listen to them practice.
There were lots of great
musicians in Omaha at that time, like Hank Redd (who co-wrote
"Free" for
Deneice Williams, and was Stevie Wonder's musical director for a while.
My
first saxophone teacher, Red Higgins was important to me because he
gave
me
confidence.
Omaha has a rich musical history, and there were a bunch of
sax players there, like Hank Redd, Stemsy Hunter, and Percy Marion. Percy
played baritone sax with Duke Ellington on the Continuum album.
I
remember
him
because he showed me how cool it was to play the sax.
He was
with LA
Carnival. They took our
guitar player (Walter McKinney). There were lots
of musicians in town but LA Carnival and Man vs |  | Man were the most popular.
Man vs Man would pack the house because no one knew what we were going to
do.
We
thought we were Funkadelic or something.
We would run around the
stage with the mike stands between our legs.
We even had a skit where
the
people thought our trumpet player laid on the floor like he was dead or
something. People still ask me about that band.
What bands did you play or record with prior
to the Rhythm Machine?
Before I joined the Rhythm Machine, I played
in several bands with my
brothers Leonard and
Kevin,
who are also musicians in Omaha. I
played with Man vs.Man in the early seventies.
Many of the
straight jazz players in town would make
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The early Rhythm
Machine 45's.
'The Kick' (above), 'Freakish Love' (below) | remarks
about my "funky"
approach
to
playing. They would say
things like "now we are going to play some
real
jazz"...
it's kind of funny to me though, because instead of trying to
play
like | |
| them,
I continued developing my style, which sounds a lots like a
cross between Michael Brecker, Grover Washington,
and King Curtis. Many
of
those same jazz players eventually changed their
thinking, and were trying
to join our band (Man vs. Man) because we would get
all of the gigs. I
remember
one gig we did where we had about ten horn players in our section.
We opened for Grover Washington at the
University Of Nebraska At Omaha,
and
played for the Democratic National Convention in
1972. There was a
picture
of the group in Jet Magazine where Lonzon was
dressed up in a chicken
suit.
That
is the kind of band we were. We
did things for the"shock" value.
That was when there was no KOWH (soul) radio station in town.
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Rhythm Machine at the Toga Club, Des
Moines, Iowa. June 1975
(L-R) James Boone (bass), Meride Williams (alto sax), Donald Harris (tenor sax)
| Everyone
in town thought Man vs. Man wrote the early Tower Of Power tunes. We played
"You're Still A Young Man" and "Social Lubrication" off of their early albums. One of the groups I was with was called Guts, Bucket, And Funk.
Meride Williams was in Omaha after the Rhythm Machine split up (to
re-form) in about 1974. We were the horn section. I really enjoyed working in
the band with him because he taught me to simplify horn parts, and we really
got along really well. Everyone got
along really well. I
played tenor sax/soprano sax. He
played the
alto/soprano sax. I had perfect pitch and could remember songs quickly.
Who
were the members of the band when you joined?
Meride came to me and asked me if I wanted to join
the Rhythm Machine. I
was on the track team at the University Of Nebraska
At Omaha, but decided
to take him up on the offer.
I respected the band and was really excited
to join.
Mack had left the group, and It was an honor to be the
replacement. Hopie Bronson was the new keyboard player.
He was also from
Omaha. James
Boone (bass guitar/lead vocals), Robert Dycus (drums),
Maurice Puckett (guitar),
Dennis McNeil was the conga player, and
myself.
What about the Rhythm
Machine album?
Yes, the album was called Rhythm Machine.
It was on LULU Records (Jerry
Herman's label) The songs were:
You Got Action, You've Got Me, Lil's Place,
You Got Action, You've Got
Me,
You Make Me Feel Right, Think Right, Do
Right, Put A Smile On Time (this
was the flip side of Brenda And Me), I
Thought My Love Was Fine,
Everybody's Chippin (The label spelled it Trippin, but it was
Chippin), and 'I
Can't Do Without You'.
What do you recall about recording with the group?
What I recall most about recording with the
Rhythm Machine is Uncle
Dirty's
studio in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
They didn't call him Uncle Dirty for
nothing.
He would take his shoes off and put his feet up on the recording
board. It
was hard to believe and harder to breathe. The studio would
smell like a big toe.
He was one of the best engineers in the country
though.
I played on the only Rhythm Machine album. The album was a group
project and James Boone had all of the songs
copyrighted as "Rhythm
Machine". Individuals did come up with the songs and then we would play
and perfect them. Boone was good with melodies and Hopie Bronson would
do
the chords.
Meride and I would come up with horn parts. I remember when
we recorded "You Make me Feel Right,
Think Right, Do Right" and Meride
told
me to put the horn part on it.
I made up the part and played it by
myself.
All of the other parts were both Meride and
I. "Brenda And Me"
and "Put
A
Smile On Time (Meride's song) were fun horn
songs. I did the lead vocal
on
"Thought My Love Was Fine" and I
wrote the words. Hopie did
the music.
There is a song on the album called "You
Got Action, You've Got Me". I
came up with the basic groove for the song
and Hopie came up with the
intro. The
song was released about a year before Chaka Khan's "At Midnight
My Love Will Lift You Up".
I will never forget when I first heard "At
Midnight" because I was in the car on
the way to rehearsal with Hopie
Bronson.
When we heard the intro, we knew someone had ripped our song
off.
We looked at each other and said "that's
cold". If you listen to
"Action"
and "Midnight" you will hear it
right from the first note. Basically,
all
of the harmonies and parts were created in
rehearsals. I remember I said
"Put A Smile On Time" wasn't
flowing right. Boone
challenged me and asked
if I had a better idea.
I had to come up with something so I gave the
vocals the bounce they have, and came up with
the horn parts (with
Meride).
Meride came up to me later and said "I
don't know what you are doing to the
songs, but it really make them sound
better." I was the
youngest in the
group.
Continued
on Page 2
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