Jody Harris

Infobox musical artist
Name = Jody Harris


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Born = United States
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Instrument = Electric guitar
Genre = Surf rock
Rock
No wave
Occupation = Musician, songwriter
Years_active = 1973 - 1990
Label = ZE
Don't Fall Off the Mountain
Press
Shanachie
Antilles
Infidelity
Lust/Unlust
Celluloid
Associated_acts = The Contortions
Raybeats
Golden Palominos
Robert Quine
The Voidoids
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Notable_instruments = Jody Harris is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer who was a central figure in the influential No Wave scene in New York City. One esteemed critic described Harris as a "seasoned campaigner from the late-70's flowering of American postpunk" ( [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE0D7123DF936A25757C0A961948260] ), while another called him "one of the most underrated guitarists" on the New York scene ( [http://trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=jody_harris] ). He was a key member of a number of bands that sprang from the seminal No Wave movement, including the Contortions, the Raybeats, and the Golden Palominos. He has also recorded as a solo artist and with guitarist Robert Quine. In 1977, he joined Quine in a band backing rock critic Lester Bangs on Bangs' "Let It Blurt" album, produced by John Cale. ( [http://www.furious.com/Perfect/quine/blurtdimstars.html] ) Harris also was briefly a member of the Voidoids and has played on many recordings by a wide range of artists, including Matthew Sweet, Syd Straw, Kip Hanrahan and John Zorn.

With Quine, he composed all the music on their collaborative album, "Escape", as well as co-writing virtually all the Raybeats' material. He also composed all the songs and instrumentals on his one solo album, except for one song co-written with Don Christensen. As part of Anton Fier's supergroup the Golden Palominos, he co-wrote the majority of the songs on their acclaimed second album, "Visions of Excess".

Robert Palmer, writing in the New York Times in 1987, praised "the luminous clarity" of Harris's lead guitar work for the Golden Palominos( [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE0D7123DF936A25757C0A961948260] ), while the Village Voice's Robert Christgau obliquely criticized what he called Harris's "weakness for the genre exercise" in his solo work ( [http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv1-86.php] ). Quine himself called Harris "tragically underrated -- he's so far advanced, way past me and people can't hear it" [http://www.furious.com/PERFECT/quine.html] .

Discography

The Contortions

* "No New York" (Antilles Records 1978)
* "Buy the Contortions" (1979)
* "Paris 1980 Live Aux Bains Douches" (1980)
* "Live in New York" (1981)
* "NY No Wave" (ZE Records 2003)

=The Raybeats=

* "Start Swimming" (Stiff Records 1981)
* "Roping Wild Bears" (Don't Fall Off the Mountain Records 1981)
* "Guitar Beat" (PVC/Passport 1981)
* "It's Only A Movie!" (Shanachie Records 1983)
* "" (Rhino 2005)

olo

* "It Happened One Night" (Press Records 1982)

Jody Harris & Robert Quine

* "Escape" (Infidelity Lust/Unlust Music 1981)
* "Come Together: Guitar Tribute to the Beatles, Vol. 2" (compilation) (NYC 1995)

The Golden Palominos

* "Visions of Excess" (Celluloid Records 1985)
* "Blast of Silence" (Celluloid 1986)

Richard Hell and the Voidoids

* "Funhunt" (ROIR / Important 1989)

Other artists

* "Let It Blurt" - Lester Bangs (SPY Records 1977)
* "Off White" - James White & The Blacks (ZE 1979)
* "Lizzy Mercier Descloux" (ZE Records 1980)
* "Stop Vicious Cycles" - Jill Kroesen (Vital Records 1982)
* "Desire Develops an Edge" - Kip Hanrahan (American Clavé)
* "The Big Gundown" - John Zorn (Nonesuch Records 1986)
* "Inside" - Matthew Sweet (Columbia 1986)
* "Surprise" - Syd Straw (1989)
* "The Trouble Tree" - Freedy Johnston (Bar/None 1990)
* "Music for Films" (Tzadik Records)

External links

* [http://www.furious.com/PERFECT/quine/jodyharris.html Jody Harris-penned tribute to Robert Quine in Perfect Sound Forever webzine]
* [http://www.mohairsweets.mb.ca/Pages/jody_harris_pg.html Interview with Mohair Sweets webzine]
* [http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/184 Interview with Dusted webzine]