Barry Harris
Piano Solo on
Fried Bananas

About

Barry Harris's piano solo is the second of two improvisations on this recording, following Gordon's three-chorus tenor saxophone statement. Taking two choruses of the 32-bar ABAC form in E-flat at 179 BPM, Harris brings his deep bebop vocabulary to Gordon's contrafact, which is based on the chord changes of "It Could Happen to You." His piano work navigates the underlying harmony with precision and swing, the two-chorus solo demonstrating his command of the changes that lie beneath Gordon's recomposed melody.

Barry Harris was 39 to 40 years old at the time.