Staff Blog
Farewell, Rufus
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| The only horns he needed he wore on his head |
| aformadojazz.blogspot.com |
Rufus is a guy we've been writing about at City Paper pretty much since day one (or year three, or something ). Most recently, in 2001 our Andrew Ervin wrote:
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.
Harley was an original, the self-proclaimed pied piper of jazz. I had the pleasure of meeting the guy a few years back. He was going to court to defend, as I recall, his right to play in public. He and his giant rubber-banded ponytail were there defending themselves. His case was thrown out before it couuld be heard, so there was really no story, but just spending a few minutes with the guy in a hushed court room, you could tell he was channeling vibes from somewhere else entirely.
If you've got any photo of Rufus, please let us know. We'd love to post them.
The very first recording I ever had of any kind of Bagpipes, was Rufus Harley’s LP “Bagpipe Blues”(Atlantic Records, 1966).
I was playing Clarinet and Saxes, and I wanted a Bagpipe to play myself, and here was a Jazz Man that had “Done-It”!!!
It took me until 1970, when I got my first Scots Bagpipe, to follow in Rufus’ footsteps. You can hear one result of this inspiration, on my bagpipe solo with Van Morrison’s “Celtic Ray” song, from his “Beautiful Vision” album (Warner-7 Arts, 1982). The solo is on the Irish Uilleann Pipes, but it’s a kind of Tenor Sax solo, that I used to play in bands that covered Van Morrison’s songs. I have now collected 55 different Bagpipes from almost as many countries since 1970. (see 30 of them at http://www.hotpipes.com)
I met Rufus only once, when he came to the Santa Rosa Highland Games, in California, September of 1993. Rufus loved my “International Bagpipe Show”. I was totaly surprised to see Rufus “LIVE and in Person”,as I had no idea that he would be present at the Games.
His spoken philopsophy reminded me of Jazzman Sun Ra, who I had seen at “Slug’s” (a New York City Jazz Club), playing on a Monday Night, with his “Solar Arkestra”, back in July of 1969.
I have recently become aware that Sun Ra AND Rufus, had recorded together in the 1980s, well, that figures, what a great pairing ! I bet they’re Jamming Together in Heaven RIGHT NOW ! Can You Hear It?
Sean Folsom
sean: Rufus and Sun Ra aren't in Heaven. They're on Saturn. And they're not dead — they just went back to where they came from
Hey Brian I think they’re on one of Saturn’s MOONS,or maybe on
2 Moons in conjunct ORBITS “Passing Though the RINGS” keep that RYE for YOURSELF !!
Sean