Harris Simon

As a 21-year-old wunderkind, pianist-composer-arranger Harris Simon went into the studio in March of 1978 to record his first recording under his own name. Produced by George Klabin and Jeff Kaufman, New York Connection featured an all-star cast including tenor sax titan Michael Brecker, Brazilian trumpeter Claudio Roditi, saxophonist-flutist Joe Farrell, bassist Mike Richmond, guitarist Bill Washer and Brazilian drummer Portinho. Two years later, Simon returned to the studio with essentially the same heavyweight crew to record Swish. Both quintessential late ’70s offerings, now available for the first time in three decades on the Resonance Records compilation The Mastery of Passion, represent a moment in time when jazz was crossing over to a wider audience.