Harley, Rufus – “Pied Piper of Jazz, the ” – [Label M]
David Richoux 1/16/2005 CD, Jazz
I actually say this guy play 15 years ago at the Scottish Games in Santa Rosa – among all of the traditional pipe bands (most of the audience did not “get it” but I thought it was a great idea.) Rufus Harley has to work extra hard to play jazz on the pipe chanter (the fingered part sometimes used without bag or drones) and the full “war pipes” because of the limited number of notes that can be played on the beast. This is a collection from various mid 1960’s Atlantic recordings and also features him on sax and flute. Some tracks are closer to novelty than jazz but they are all quite interesting. He has kept on playing (read the booklet) and there still is not another major jazz bagpiper after all these years! Wonder why….’ *review by David Richoux