Eddie Harris

A jazz saxophonist who played with freedom and style, Eddie Harris created both popular, soulful melodies that crossed over into the mainstream and experimental, free-form improvisations that pleased the purists; but his grooves were always smooth, funky and inventive. A rare talent who grew up playing piano in his local church in Chicago and mastered saxophone at Roosevelt University, he began his career backing Gene Ammons and played in army bands before landing a surprise top 40 hit with his arrangement of the Ernest Gold theme tune to war movie Exodus. It became one of the first jazz singles to sell over a million copies and helped push his debut album Exodus To Jazz (1961) to sales of over two million. Despite the sneers of some critics Harris produce his classic The In Sound (1965) and was the first major star to use an electric saxophone as he experimented with funk and soul sounds on Listen Here (1967). His live collaboration with Les McCann became a big-selling landmark in soul-jazz as did the album Swiss Movement (1971) and he teamed up with rock guitarists Steve Winwood, Jeff Beck and Zoot Money on E.H. In The UK (1974) before his death in 1996 from kidney disease and bone cancer aged 62.