After
winning the prestigious "Big Easy Award for Best
Female Performer" in 2000, Leigh Harris went
on to produce and record her second solo record,"Polychrome
Junction"', in 2001.
Leigh
Harris - Polychrome Junction (Self-released) Like
Clark and McDermott, vocalist "Little Queenie"
Harris effortlessly travels the musical spectrum,
growling her original gutbucket New Orleans blues
"Dog Days," or delicately floating through
a standard like "Spring Can Really Hang You Up
the Most." Harris is in, superb company here,
with drummer Karl Budo and percussionist Michael Skinkus
providing the rhythmic beds on Polychrome Junction,
but it's the tonal colors of pianist Josh Paxton and
Hammond B-3 organist David Ellington that warmly embrace
Harris' voice as both foils and equals. On tracks
like Earl King's "Make a Better World,"
Paxton gets to indulge his Fess and Booker jones,
and Ellington rolls out wave after wave of organ swells,
launching Harris into a joyous affirmation on the
chorus.
-Gambit
Weekly : Set Break
Disc Must Be the Place
By Scott Jordan