Harry James - Green Onions

[@realdeal6977]

My gawd is this some music. if this this does not make your legs start bouncing then nothing will. Harry James is Not forgotten. Love the Clarinet Solo!!

[@asgaard636]

Mr. James and company are flat out WAILING on this! What a shame we live in such a graceless age today- no one knows how to dance anymore....GREAT Vid!

[@truckerbob94]

If we had more bands like this today, man the world would be a better place! But thank goodness for youtube to see what bands of the past played like.

[@kennyaldrich9542]

sadly all too true however i must add that i have not forgotten how to play this way ( drums) the really sad and horrible part is it seems im just lost on this gen of people its as if real motion isnt either heard respected or wanted anymore..so i left the scene what else could i do? beat my head against the wall? i so understand your feelings on this

[@MadynMarin]

My music teacher is the clarinet players son(the one who played the solo). He showed us this video. Amazing what he could do

[@davidburris6873]

I can listen to this over and over...just amazing!!! Harry was such a talent...missed greatly...

[@speakwhnspkn2]

That Harry James could swing like this so late in his career is a testament to what a truly great musician he was. Harry may have been the king of the high c's on the trumpet. Only one other trumpeter that probably had the range he had on that instrument and that's probably Louis Armstrong.

[@rjackcat]

This is my uncle on trombone Joe Cadena 2nd from left

[@eightbars1]

I knew Joe! That is my dad, Red Kelly, on bass. I got to hang with the band all the time.

[@sushirollusa]

@@eightbars1 Red is awesome !!

[@eightbars1]

@@sushirollusa Thanks. So was Joe. He was a good friend to me even though I was in third grade!

[@sharronaustin2769]

Oh my goodness...if people can’t swing with this kinda music then part of their brain hasn’t been freely opened up....love Harry James music💓

[@donweaver5258]

This was an era of real music.

[@Agachisanilles]

My grandfather told me about this song. (the clarinet player) The way it worked was at the end of the song, the trumpets would play that line from "It ain't Necessarily So" and then they would all compete for the highest note. Harry would let them have it for a while and he would try and hit way above everybody else and blow them away. Unfortunately, Harry didn't in this video.

[@rockitflash]

Was your Dad the clarinet player? I was wondering what was his name,he’s great!

[@Agachisanilles]

@@rockitflash He's actually my grandfather! I was named after him but he usually went by Bob. Bob Achilles www.discogs.com/artist/1790563-Bob-Achilles

[@markhenthorn3438]

I’m thankful for your grandfather’s ministry.

[@pipers2peo]

@@Agachisanilles Brilliant! You must be so proud of your grandfather. I think he's the best clarinet player and thoroughly deserved a seat with Harry James. What an honour!

[@navyasrivastava1388]

Im playing the clarinet and I learnt this piece, the best piece if ever played by far its so fun and exhilarating

[@GeneTrujillo]

Harry James getting NASTY! Love it! He was a childhood hero - he could play so fast, so high. He could do it all, and all class. What swagger here! The clarinet solo knocked it out of the park. Amazing take on a classic. Thanks for sharing.

[@1mojo1952]

My Dad was in the RCAF during WW2 and I grew up listening to this music, but this is the first time I seen or heard this cut. friggin awsome!!!!!!! I love this music

[@AlarusOne]

I cannot watch this enough, it's timeless and it's a treasure. What a joy to see the musicians jam. Receding hairlines and thick glasses on make this more poignant. Some things just do NOT get old. :)

[@HenQ715]

I miss good tight arrangements you don't hear much any more. Listening to it LIVE was the the THING of the era in those days those guys had CHOPS they made it look so easy...miss them. Hen

[@bblegacy]

I got to see Harry's band about 5 times back in the mid 70s and the last time in 1981 when I was in high school and college, and I was learning my way around my own horns, before he (HJ) really got sick. Needless to say it was special, and I'm not exaggerating. People talk about bands like this and how nice it would be if they would come back. They won't. And the reason why is probably not what most people would think. The musicians exist to do it. There is no shortage of top flight players who could cut it. But being able to read and cut some charts isn't a band. A band only becomes a "band" when there is enough of a demand for it to exist, which means playing out in front of audiences 5-6-7 nights a week for weeks and months on end... enough time for guys to totally get to know each other and get used to how all 16-18 of them play, and feel a piece of music the same way, and then be able to do it with about 200 arrangements in the books, that are unique to, and were specifically written for the band playing them. They aren't playing published, commercially available jazz band arrangements that are played (and usually butchered to some extent) by just about every other band. What you are witnessing in this video isn't just just a bunch of guys who got together and found a way to relax their way through a (fairly simple) blues. What you are watching is a true legacy band and its leader, who had by this point been leading a band CONTINUOUSLY for 25 years that had firmly established "its own thing". And as the years came and went, different guys came in and others left and they were replaced. But in the process of all that time and experience and evolution, the band also built of a book of a couple thousand charts, most of which had also come and gone. Along the way an identity came into being, that was all its own. So, as decades of recordings and videos prove, that doesn't just happen overnight. And as easy as it looks, it's far from easy to make happen. Chaos and confusion, louder, higher and faster are easy. Simple, direct and subtle can be and usually is far more difficult to achieve. As one wise arranging teacher once told me, go ahead, write all you want. Get the chart done right to the last final barline. Then take a good look at it and erase about half of what you wrote. What's leftover will be the real music. Once that's done the hard part begins - getting it played by musicians who are sympathetic to what your intentions are as its composer / arranger.

[@33Bin]

Thanks!

[@nyterpfan]

OUTSTANDING post---these guys didn't just hook up one night and start jamming--it took YEARS of playing together to be able to sound this great!!

[@billthehat6973]

just curious man, where'd you get to see them? I mean HJ was a truly extraordinary musician. Gotta tell ya, I envy you having seen them live! Holy Smokes!

[@WilliamSilva-ml5nw]

Amen

[@The3Dsmash]

Thanks for taking the time to write this. As a non musician, it makes perfect sense and makes me appreciate the great bands of the past all the more.

[@MAJORSNODGRASS]

I like the way Buddy Rich twirls his left drumstick at the very, very end as if to say the whole thing was down to him and it wasy EASY!

[@shawmcgee1531]

Booker T & his friends knocked out such a perfect classic that afternoon in Memphis. Skilled musicians like these can take it a seemingly infinite number of places. James takes it on with his trumpet with such confidence

[@techforge-1]

Gotta love the James Bond lick at the end. The end of an era. No one will dance like that to this kind of music again, especially in suits and ties.

[@scottbohe7047]

Wow! Very surprising - I didn't know Green Onions could be done in this fashion. Well done! THIS is how a band jams!

[@sherom]

Unbelievable...My favorite band, and with Buddy on drums...forgetaboutit ! Thanks for posting, it is appreciated

[@joepetch7728]

I've never heard this side of Harry's playing before... wonderful.

[@jackpinesavage1628]

These dudes had it going on, back in '65, when I was 9 years old.

[@leftchicago]

Boy, I remember my mom always talking about Harry James. She knew him from the 40's. Pretty hip cat to have recognized this as a classic and to have come up with a killer arrangement for it. Most "serious" musicians would probably have looked down on a "pop" song such as this. Way to go, Harry.

[@rnaldfshr]

Bring back these bands please.

[@georgebethos7890]

ron fisher The Duke. Chick Webb Benny Goodman Artie Shaw Count Basie. That was some era, boy

[@ChuckBerndt]

Hell of a clarinet solo!

[@tonytrout3784]

Fantastic rendering of Green Onions by a Big Band. I never knew it existed. ! Tony

[@butterfingersbeck]

@gsmonks Actually it's a Wurlitzer, not a Fender Rhodes. A 100 series to be precise, as used by Ray Charles on "What'd I Say", Joe Zawinul on ""Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" and The Chantays on "Pipeline".

[@anbellamilkbanke8692]

GOOD STUFF.. this is really music.......no profanity, no violence..no perversions makes you feel giddy and happy....thanks I am only 30 and tired of this music industry pushing our youth into all sort of negative actions and horrible feelings of grandiosity, not to mention no morals!

[@jamesfirth2392]

The quality of this playing is utterly brilliant. Always thought jazz musicians were the best musicians.

[@tjmpiano]

@Agachisanilles your grandpa was what we now call a monster player.. ie; someone who has mastered the instrument... and indeed he did.... what a great band... what a legacy for you...

[@dougdanzeisen9608]

The power, the swing of this performance is proof positive that James NEVER left jazz behind. He enjoyed commercial success with some sweet numbers, but the man and his band could swing like very few could. A master performer at his peak.

[@officialhopsof]

Harry James embodies that Big Bang trumpet sound!

[@rockdontrun]

This is way cooler than I would have thought humanly possible. Who knew Harry James would be able to pull this off so well?

[@nyterpfan]

WOW--these cats are really laying a groove--awesome swing arrangement of a classic tune--it might even outdo the original if that's possible!!

[@MackMcDonaldOfficial]

Why you lie about it being better

[@nyterpfan]

bluesboy macman No lie dude--I think it's better, if you don't like it, tough shit!!

[@bejeeber]

Awesome indeed! Provides me with a new found appreciation for Harry James and band.

[@33Bin]

fantastic solo clarinet

[@lewstone1934]

I started to love Harry James in 1976 when I was 15. I had and still have great taste.... you can imagine what hell it is for me in 2017 musically....... If you wanna hear a great solo by HJ try and find the track "I've Had My Moments" - fab key changes.. good luck as it's rare.

[@joeasmythe]

We thought we were hot stuff back then, with our pompadours, peg pants, Mr B collars and such. We didn't realize we were witnessing the greatest music ever, gone but never forgotten

[@p0k7lm]

cool kats ! 😎 swing on !

[@wdchefdave56]

@snuffyny Amen! I'm a chef and I use green onions every day! And, this song starts up in my head EVERY time I cut them up! Great version of Booker T.'s! Buddy Rich was the original stuff for sure. This is classic jazz with a touch of R&B.

[@flamencoprof]

When I was a lad in the Fifties, all that was left of my father's enthusiasm for Harry James was a trumpet mouthpiece in his dresser drawer among the cuff-links and old coins. A few decades later, I recognise this number as a classic kbd instrumental I missed as a young guitar obsessive.. A few more decades later I find this. I am connected back through time to find out what it was my father liked.

[@erzug]

And nobody brings it to a feverish climax like the best big band jazz drummer who ever lived.

[@fantasyoverture]

I love the ending when Buddy goes into 3/4 time. That was awesome.

[@RP50]

Very interesting. Except for that weird part under the clarinet solo, they are playing the Henry Mancini arrangement of this tune that was on his Uniquely Mancini album.

[@wadeharris65]

@Agachisanilles That is one of the best solos I've ever heard on the clarinet; starting off low and mysterious in the chalumeau range, working upwards until he's wailing away in the third register. Absolutely outstanding; it's what's kept me coming back to this great performance over and over again.

[@staxmantim]

So, Booker was in high school & Steve Cropper was fresh out, and they were getting to play with Al Jackson, who had been drumming on stage since he was a child with his father’s Jazz/Swing band. Then imagine them hearing this! Must be kinda like The Beatles hearing The MGs cover them! We gotta be doing something right! Mutual admiration club.

[@morganfjp]

Wow - an early Wurlitzer electric piano. Priceless!

[@tubemagpie]

Wow! Yet another You tube surprise...that was awesome,,,,,,,, I love the MGs version but that was something else. Show that to kids these days and they just wouldn't get it!

[@mikegilbert2500]

If you can't get goosebumps to this stuff, you ain't alive

[@oscarandgroucho]

Great version of a great blues song that grooves along with no discernible melody to get in their way.

[@Agachisanilles]

@Ty10Man This is an excellent display of musical mastership from a variety of top-players.

[@narutofiles]

the muting of the trumpet is out of this world

[@walterkersting1362]

Grooooovy baby... This song is somewhere in the vicinity of jazz…

[@seasonsasmyteacher]

The clarinet player is my friend's father. Though the entire band is dope, the clarinet player is exquisite! Those lungs are unbelievable. To go that long without taking a breath and making elegant music from the challenge. I cant hold my breath that long in silence. Kevy

[@bobwojnarowski6997]

As good as it gets. Best ever.

[@blujay1337]

I have been loving this song 24/7 from both booker t's and this band

[@ChuckBerndt]

Harry James!!! THE BEST!!!!!!!!!

[@sherom]

BRAVO!! Harry, Buddy & The Band.

[@redwhiteandblues]

This is totally amazing, and would you believe I have danced to Harry James and Gene Crupa, never heard this one.

[@fab66100]

Grande classe Harry, merci beaucoup, thanks a lot

[@charlie2namon]

Nice shuffle!!

[@charlie2namon]

GREAT band, but Buddy OMG what a groove he laid down on this.

[@butterfingersbeck]

Booker T's version was the original; 1962. This version is a big-band cover from 1965. I love the combination of the acoustic bass and the Wurlitzer electric piano - very Joe Zawinul/CannonballAdderley sound.

[@TheEldoradoKid]

Fantastic! A great Big Band take on the The Booker T and the MGs classic. 'Ol Harry James still has the chops at this relativley late date in his career. some pretty wild improv work by the horn and woodwinds sections. Almost makes it kind of sound in the style of Sing, Sing Sing, the Benny Goodman classic. And check out all those "squares" dancing, showing all the kids, hey we can be hip too!

[@DancingSpiderman]

Wow, excellent music , back in a day when a trumpet player could actually make a living on the single yob of playing gigs with an orchestra... Hairy James, tremendous expression on that horn...

[@redwhiteandblues]

This is totally amazing, and would you believe I have danced to Harry James and Gene Crupa plus Buddy Rich - I guess that dates me, never heard this one.

[@TheDelightfulmiles]

"Superbly brilliant, what an excellent performance".

[@GERTA22]

Great !!!!!!! Have just discovered how good this band really were.

[@TheTruthResearchers]

WOWPOW!!!!!! RARE GEM! THANK YOU!

[@mikegilbert2500]

Are you nuts? You don't think Duck and Steve would love this version? It swings like hell

[@ChristineHubert]

Was fur temperamentvoller Musikstick. Fantastische Musik.

[@RICHIEBSQUI]

Sheer big band class. And, as a fan of the Booker T & The M.G's, i can state that this is definately as good in my opinion.

[@HenQ715]

Thanks brother for answering me back, I agree with you. I also think it was a fun time in the time era, not to mention people really had fun, they dance. Mind you now I was about 10 or so when this happen live, look at Buddy Rich, so cool. Peace be with you. HenQ Fruita, CO.

[@cosworth6nut]

This is awesome - never heard it played this way before. Thank you so much for posting...

[@maureen1938]

AWESOME.....Thanks for posting.

[@thepine1856]

Clarinetist Reverent from San Bernardino Church Robert Achilles plays Clarinet and Sax for Harry James Orchestra passed away 2008 at 70 in Heaven among Harry James and others ...

[@JazzyBlues420]

Now this is the straight dope!

[@maureen1938]

GREAT MUSIC..... !!! thanks for posting.

[@johnswackyworld]

one hell of a recording by james

[@johnvuc]

Yes, How did I miss them.

[@MrRJDB1969]

Smooth....

[@georgebethos7890]

I didn't know what to expect here. This is really good

[@maxdujean3096]

very good the version green Onions

[@lewstone1934]

loved Harry since I was 14.....

[@Dlrealife]

One of the BEST video's I've seen in a long time, I keep coming back to it. KZbin can be so fantastic sometimes Thank you very much peejay1975 for posting it!

[@Alchace]

Yes, Bravo, thanks! Excellent viddy!

[@ChuckBerndt]

FANTASTIC!!!!!!!

[@Raiwons]

It is a marvel!!!. A million stars for this video!! Martin

[@klbkasdkahf]

guy on the trumpet is the king of this video ;-D

[@mikesoundcity]

A true showman. :-)

[@ODColon]

@ Achilles - Your Grandpa really nailed that clarinet solo! Way good!

[@XenusMama]

Harry James …. My forever love.

[@Tony-ju6yh]

Loving Harry James

[@mikesoundcity]

One of the easiest outings for Buddy Rich! :-) Superb version.

[@DGC019]

0:58 -1:45 but especially 1:04(!) is the reason why I am now learning to play trumpet. Can't get enough of it. Watching it over and over. And other reasons of course are Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima, Miles Davis... etcetera!

[@championm1]

estupenda interpretacion de harry james uno de los mejores trompetistas del mundo,diseñando y tocando una melodia ,que despues de 50 años sigue en mi gusto muy particular,siendo de las mejores,incluyendo a booker t mg's,en donde se filmo este video?gracias.

[@shawmcgee1531]

This was a very new tune in 1965, but James & his band make it sound like a familiar old standard.

[@EeRocKK]

Great post! Thank you!

[@richardlaine9994]

The last time I heard clarinet that even faintly resembled what is heard here was in an old video I had of Duke Ellington's clarinetist Jimmy Hamilton. { I can't get over how [ DELICIOUSLY ] "dirty and low-down'" and thoroughly bluesy this whole performance is -- and the clarinet echoes that, with lots of playing in the low register, growls, and also some ( no doubt calculatedly ) raspy, rhapsodic high register. It just KILLS me; I can't get enough of it! I was wondering who the clarinetist might be -- and I've figured it out, I think: I believe his name is Chuck Gentry. It suddenly struck me that the clarinetist is the same fellow who plays baritone sax in this number, and Chuck Gentry was Harry James' long-time baritone saxophonist. As a matter of fact, I have an old VHS cassette on which I taped a performance of the Harry James band after James' death. At that time, the bandleader was another trumpeter named Joe Graves -- and believe it or not, baritone saxist Chuck Gentry WAS STILL with that band. That video was from about 20 or so years later than this present one. I wish to register my appreciation for the freshness of repertoire presented here -- I mean, this is such a welcome departure from the more usual big-band repertoire of "One O'Clock Jump," "Don't Be That Way" and the like. I don't think Harry James has EVER quite been given due credit for the greatness of his musicianship. First, as has been said already, he obviously had quite broad sympathies musically to be ''game'' for this kind of style on a modern number that has no connection to the swing style of the 1930s. When mention is made of the greatest trumpeters in jazz ( if you ask me ), Harry James is unfairly and consistently neglected. Louis, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Miles Davis -- and even cornetist Bix Beiderbecke -- regularly receive plenteous their share of accolades from both fans and authorities on jazz history. The same praises are all too rarely sung of James. This is the case, despite the fact that he is able to play unfailingly exciting solos with a wealth of ideas. At least one especially astute writer on jazz whose books I have read ( I forget who, exactly ) has pointed out that James is nowhere near as far behind many other revered trumpeters as he is made out to be. I have remained intrigued by their observation that he very rarely guilty of ''fluffing," while adding that this is a very rare thing in an improvising trumpeter. I have to wonder if it is sometimes seen as the ''in'' thing to minimize and / or forget Harry James' abilities simply because he was once hugely popular with the public as a whole -- too ''commercial" -- and because the assumption is made that a style that is decades old is worth glossing over. While I think of it, another trumpet great, Swing bandleader and colleague of Harry James has similarly been all too easily and frequently overlooked. His name? Bunny Berigan. Leader Joe Graves said that, while Louis Armstrong was for him the greatest trumpeter of all, James was his favourite trumpeter because he could play ANYTHING. Benny Goodman, for several years James' boss, was not a man who was free and easy with compliments. Still, he praised his former star trumpeter by saying, "He can read anything you put in front of him. Quite the musician." As for me ( Richard ), I will go one step beyond that and say that material such as this present selection proves not only that James COULD play anything he wished to, but, in fact, DID -- and moreover, did so SURPASSINGLY WELL. And it takes more than one star player to make a band. James also has to have had arrangers who were conversant with modern trends who could convincingly fashion essentially divergent material into something compatible with a big band. ( I should add, really, that a lot of material has potential to be used as big band or jazz fare, because at bottom, it is based on the blues chords and progressions ). The blues permeates all styles of music, when you get right down to it. It is a tribute not only to James longevity as a performer, but also the depth of his musicianship, that he was still leading a big band in the early Beatles era. Many rank-and-file musicians of the Swing Era -- and even some of the most successful leaders of that period -- felt adrift after the end of the Second World War with the advent of BeBop ( Dizzy, Charlie Parker, et al ) and were left flailing, like fish out of water. So much of BeBop was a reaction against the dominance of popular music by the big bands during the decade 1935- 45, and a lot of the best swing musicians were roundly neglected simply because they played in an idiom that was then decried as ''passe." The swing players were not unworthy, they were simply seen as old-fashioned. Even Louis Armstrong had his struggles in the immediate post-Swing period. Yet he, as well as Harry James and certain others not only survived but thrived. They did so in spite of the fact that other musicians came along who grabbed their fair share of attention with more advanced harmonies and extended, even stratospheric, playing ranges. Harry James, Benny Goodman, Louis and the best of the veterans of Swing remained true to their own styles while broadening their audiences to the younger generations. They triumphed and had staying power not just because of their talent and dogged persistence, but also because they had this tireless drive to make music and communicate through it. It takes a rare breed to manage that not just for one decade, but several. The peak years of Bebop were only about 1945-50, and then the musical world was more favourable once again for ''classic'' or ''traditional'' jazz. But even more simply, big band jazz had -- and has to this day -- its own particular logic, rightness, and above all, swing. It deserves to survive -- and does -- even when it is seemingly outmoded, because it is fundamentally valid in its own right. All good jazz, regardless of style, has the element of SWING to recommend it. Let's not ever forget that. Thanks for reading. Yours, Richard.

[@christophercanzoneri2962]

The clarinet belongs to Bob Achilles, who later became an ordained pastor.

[@ChuckBerndt]

Harry is amazing!!!!!

[@handmadeisbetter]

GREAT STUFF!!!! Thank you for posting