Zacc Harris Group: Small Wonders
Shifting Paradigm Records

Zacc Harris is no ingénue. A Minneapolis resident since 2005, the guitarist has issued three albums as a leader, co-fronts the Atlantis Quartet (which he co-founded), has taught privately for two decades, and is currently adjunct faculty in music departments at Hamline University, McNally Smith College of Music, and Carleton College. His reputation as one of the Twin Cities' preeminent musicians was formally recognized in 2017 when he was crowned ‘Best Jazz Artist' by the now-defunct alternative newspaper City Pages.

After his Zacc Harris Group debut, The Garden, appeared in 2012, he followed it five years later with the trio set American Reverie, featuring reminaginings of Americana songs. Harris now brings his guitar artistry to Small Wonders, recorded in August 2019 at Rocketsnake Studios in Minnesota and featuring him, John Raymond (trumpet, flugelhorn), Brandon Wozniak (tenor sax), Bryan Nichols (piano), and the brothers Chris (bass) and JT Bates (drums). While he's joined by five others, the album—its title a reference to Harris's two children—is very much his: Harris wrote all nine pieces, produced it, and of course plays guitar throughout.

The level of craft is high from start to finish, beginning with “Ominous Skies,” a bluesy statement that grants each player room to shine. After Bates introduces the tune and the front-liners voice the brooding theme, Wozniak delivers a muscular solo that Harris follows with a characteristically eloquent statement. Armed with a lucid tone, the leader rouses the band with a swinging contribution that carries over into Raymond's blustery declamation. As the performance ends, the impression crystallizes that while the ensemble is clearly Harris's it's very much a band. Here and elsewhere, he's but one soloist of many, and Harris's melody-grounded compositions feel contemporary yet at the same time like natural outgrowths of jazz tradition.

Inaugurating chords by Harris lead “Sundials” into a breezy, Latin-inflected groove that again serves as an animating ground for individual statements, with one by Nichols now part of the mix. The waltz “Glass Houses” is elevated by a fluid flugelhorn solo by Raymond and supple, brushes-driven accompaniment, and ear-catching too is the soulful, shuffle-strutting “Apple Jacks.” Powered by furious post-bop drive, “The Void” perhaps looks back the most, and with Wozniak, Harris's longtime Atlantis Quartet partner, and Raymond blowing up a storm one could be forgiven for hearing echoes of Miles's great ‘60s quintet in the sextet's playing. Gentler by comparison is the lovely ballad “Maya Song,” written for Harris's daughter and a beautiful outlet for the sextet's lyrical side.

For sure, no one will mistake Small Wonders for free jazz. Soloing is abundant, yes, but it always emerges out of rigorously defined compositional structures. A Harris piece generally defines itself melodically at the outset before solos appear plus a thematic restatement to wrap things up. Based on the evidence at hand, Harris takes writing as seriously as playing. The thoughtful articulation he brings to the distortion-free latter is well-matched by the considerateness he gives the former. Similar to his writing, Harris's guitar style is distinctly his while also part of a continuum that extends back to earlier players like Jim Hall and Wes Montgomery.

October 2021