January 18–25, 2001

music

Scotch and Soul

Pipes dream: One Philly institution deserves another.

The strange career of Philadelphia jazz bagpiper Rufus Harley.

by Andrew Ervin

In November 1963, the winter of America’s discontent, a young Philadelphia musician named Rufus Harley watched John F. Kennedy’s funeral on television. While a nation mourned, the sound of the bagpipes from the funeral procession sent Harley’s spirits soaring.

He attempted to replicate the sound on his sax; unsatisfied, he scoured the area for a set of bagpipes. He called around to every music store in the region, but couldn’t score them. It wasn’t until he made his first-ever trip to New York City that he found his pipes. In a small pawnshop he spent $120, that month’s entire mortgage money, and altered the course of jazz forever.

That’s right, jazz. On the bagpipes. Think about it. It makes more sense than you might think.

It made enough sense that Harley recorded four albums in the ’60s, and enough sense that Label M Records, a jazz reissue imprint, recently released The Pied Piper of Jazz, a collection of highlights from Harley’s work on Atlantic records.

The Germantown resident is a jazz legend in every sense of the word, yet he remains virtually unknown by an enormous number of jazz lovers. Sure, he has a small, dedicated following, and the critics have always dug him, as have his fellow musicians. But for whatever reason — although he will one day achieve jazz immortality — most people just have never been hipped to the sound of jazz bagpipes.

But with live club appearances in the works, a new generation may get the opportunity to appreciate what the prior has not.

Philadelphia has always been home to artists so revolutionary, so ahead of the times as to be almost entirely unnoticed or, worse, dismissed outright. Critical success and commercial success rarely walk hand in hand. Millions of dollars are still spent on the next hot young sax player, some punk kid who couldn’t blow air through a donut, while empty seats remain when Elvin Jones rolls through town.

Today, some 37 years after the event that altered jazz history as well as American history, Harley’s demeanor remains as unique as his choice of instruments. He often dons a kilt and a Viking helmet; his hair is one enormous dreadlock that falls all the way down to his knees. Even the way he plays the pipes is unconventional. He holds them on his right side, contrary to common practice for bagpipers.

While most people only associate the bagpipes with the Scottish highlands, the instrument has a complex and unique history. "The bagpipes go back to Egypt," explained Harley via the telephone. "They found them in a pyramid. The Moors took it to Scotland and Ireland." During the Middle Ages, the pipes became a common folk music instrument throughout Europe and, eventually, the national symbol in Scotland.

Four major components make up the ancient instrument. Most notable is the bag itself. Made from animal hide, it is inflated through the second component, a blow-pipe, which resembles a recorder. Blowing as continually as possible, the piper fills the bag and then releases the air through the instrument by squeezing it with his elbow. He plays the melody using the six finger-holes of the chanter, a second pipe on the front of the bag. The signature sustain of the bagpipes however derives from the borduns, or drones. These are the three pipes protruding from the top.

The fifth component of Harley’s bagpipes is somewhat less tangible: an intense amount of soul.

Because of the inherent, multifaceted range, the bagpipes can play several different roles within a jazz ensemble, and often at the same time. As a solo instrument, the tone approaches that of the soprano sax. The bag breathes alongside the player, making the pipes a fantastic tool for improvisation. On the low end of a song, the drone of the pipes simultaneously sustains a foundation independent of the melodic elements while remaining free to mingle with them. In Harley’s hands, it curls up alongside the drums and bass for a warm, sweet sound.

"When the Irish and Scottish people first came to America, they were speaking the Celtic language," Harley said. "So when they played the pipes, they played in that language. What I did was I took the pipes and put English on them."

The English Harley uses is both the pool hustler’s spin and "universal American language. It’s an integration, a product of every other language."

Harley’s application of the bagpipes to the jazz repertoire, combined with raw talent, a masterful feel and complete bodily and spiritual dedication, has made him the only real pied piper of jazz. His life story is as interesting as his contribution to music history. Descended from slaves, Harley is of African-American and Cherokee descent. He was born in North Carolina in May of 1936, with much complication. During Harley’s birth, two European-American doctors were called in to assist his mother. Only by the doctors working together could he come into this world. To Harley, the events surrounding his birth exemplify how America is a product of many different nationalities coming together for the common good.

His family moved to Philadelphia when he was very young. He has made his home here ever since. "It’s a blessing to be in Philadelphia, the birthplace of America. I call it the City of Brotherly and Motherly Love."

In his early teens, he bought his first sax. By 18, he was playing in a local cabaret fronted by Mickey "King of the Drums" Collins. He continued his studies with Dennis Sandole, who taught such luminaries as Charlie Parker and James Moody.

In 1964, Harley made his bagpipe debut at Squeaky’s, a nightclub in West Philly. Around the same time, a home recording made its way to a record producer, leading to the recording of Harley’s debut album, Bagpipe Blues, for Atlantic Records. Since then, he has played with Dexter Gordon and, in addition to many projects under his own name, recorded with the likes of Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins and Herbie Mann.

When John Coltrane eventually bought his own set of bagpipes in the mid-’60s, it was Harley he phoned in the middle of the night for advice. "One morning, I got a phone call around 2 o’clock. He said, ‘This is John Coltrane,’ and I said, ‘Get out!’" Harley’s unique sound had convinced Coltrane to buy a set of pipes, and he was looking for advice on how to make them sing.

Harley has since turned up on a recording with Laurie Anderson, and if you ever wondered what that droning sound was on the title track of the Roots’ album Do You Want More?!!!??!, well now you know.

While The Pied Piper of Jazz is a great way to familiarize yourself with Harley’s unique sound, with any luck his entire back catalogue — three albums on Atlantic, one on the Ankh label and one on Tartan Pride — will soon make it onto compact disc.

At 64, Harley, a seasoned jazz veteran at the peak of his talents, continues to travel and tour extensively overseas, bringing with him his message of peace and love. To Harley, the bagpipe is a spiritual instrument. "The drone uses the ancient vibrations of the universe. Bagpipes represent the ultimate sound of philosophy because it sustains. It brings the yin and the yang together, the male and female. The human anatomy is the original instrument. When people first came to America, they brought their instruments with them. Their bodies. Now it’s the time for people to understand that we got to get our asses in tune."

Look for an upcoming Rufus Harley gig at the Pontiac. Check www.electricfactory.com/pontiac for updates.