H2: MIKE HERRIOTT
AND SEAN HARKNESS
FLIGHTS: VOL 1—Self Released.
www.harknessherriott.com, seanharkness.wordpress.com, www.mikeherriott.com.
Songs:
Spring Break; Leap Year; Myfed; Nod To John; Kyra’s Song;
Hedge Your Bets; Gambled; And Lost; Armario; Hammock Time
PERSONNEL: Mike
Herriott, fugelhorn; Sean Harkness, guitar
By Ryan Prestone
Te formation of H2 is a musical love story. Two veteran musicians are touring a show in
Japan for six weeks and they hit it off.
Back at the hotel they’re hanging out on their free time and they hit it
off. A friendship ensues and they begin
jamming together and discover that they are kindred spirits. Although I am just
paraphrasing what I read, after listening to the music, it is clear that
guitarist Sean Harkness and fugelhornist Mike Herriott belong on stage or in
the studio together—you can cut the chemistry with a knife.
Both of them put beauty and feeling first. Their style, phrasing, and compositions are
consistent throughout the record, but show such a variety of influences, from
folk to funk and blues to jazz. These two
musicians have a great time, and you can tell how much they are in love with
the music they play, and playing with each other. You will be too—it is contagious. For the tunes that need that extra bit of
groove, they enlist their more than qualified friends, drummer Kevin Coady,
bassist Jim Vivian, and trombonist Mark Miller.
Harkness is a technical virtuoso with his fingerstyle
approach that brings together elements of both a Joe Pass style as well as
steel string players like Tommy Emmanuel.
But he doesn’t use his skills arbitrarily—it is always in service to
telling a story or creating a feeling or groove within the song. His playing is in a sense, simple, in that
you don’t have to have a “refined ear” to appreciate what he is doing. His style transcends many genres and can
touch listeners of many backgrounds. Amazingly,
he plays a custom Gibson style guitar with .14 gauge strings (the
thickness of the high E string). This is
very thick, but he gets around the fretboard as if he were playing .10 gauge
strings.
Herriott shares the same values as Harkness. He is extremely lyrical and has a beautiful tone. He has a graceful and easy approach to time, dancing on the beat with his gorgeous lines. Both players’ compositions create feelings and moods that you will want to revisit again and again. Flights is their first recording together—hopefully it isn’t their last.
page 68 September 2010 • Jazz Inside Monthly • www.jazzinsidemagazine.com
