world on a string band

wosb
Harris Wulfson with the World on a String Band at the Ukrainian National Home restaurant, December 6, 2007, New York City. I love this photo and these amazingly talented people!

left to right: Sarah Alden, Patrick Farrell, Benjy Fox-Rosen, Ljova, Harris Wulfson, Photographed by Anna Rozenblat.

This was one of the last bands Harris played with. The last time I saw him, he told me he couldn’t wait for Sarah to get back from tour so they could all get together and play! I took the audio clips from Flickr and added the fades to make the clips less choppy. If anyone has any recordings, let me know. They may not exist.

I’ve included the links to the Flickr movie clips below as well as the mp3 clip I made of their audio.

01.flikr clip 1
Freddy’s Backroom, 2007. Here is the moment during the jam where they played “world on a string” ! Harris played the ukulele for this one.

02.flikr clip 2
Freddy’s Backroom, 2007. World on a String played and then there was this fantastic jam. Pure joy. A magical night. The movie is really dark but we can see (and hear!) Harris behind Patrick.

03.flikr clip 3
At Banjo Jim’s, June 08, 2007.

04.flikr clip 4
At Banjo Jim’s, June 08, 2007.

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projects with astrograss

I came across this email from Harris in my email archives:

Date: Fri, 09 Jul 2004 18:11:20 -0400
Subject: astrograss session
From: “harris wulfson”
To: “Javier Garcia”, “Juliana Trivers”, “Matt Donahue”, “Ben Herzog”, “Emily Gardiner”, “David M Sollors”, “Mark Yokoyama”, “Michelle Wulfson”

this actually came out all right. just for fun i went into the studio with astrograss (not really a traditional recording studio, but rather a special reverberant room designed for practice and recitals). it’s the five tracks at the bottom. i’m only really on 1,2, and 5.

astrograss plays straight up “newgrass” music (sam bush is their hero).

-h.

I forwarded it to Jordan who sent me back the mp3 tracks as they are no longer on the Astrograss website. The following note is snipped from his email:

So, we had those files on our website for maybe a year or so, but they were taken down a while ago. Anyhow, I just found them on my computer and yes, that’s Harris’ amazing fiddle all over it. So the tracks are:

“Jerusalem Ridge” (Bill Monroe)
“Cherokee Shuffle” (trad.)
“Dirtiest Man in the World” (w: Shel Silverstein, m: Jordan Shapiro)

The musicians are myself on guitar/vocals, Dennis Lichtman on mandolin, Tim Kiah and bass/vocals and Harris on fiddle.

From the looks of Harris’ email it was July 2004, which seems accurate in my mind. We went into that weird recording/per space a couple times, although I don’t remember it ever being in the summer, but I know we did a festival gig in upstate NY with Harris on June 19, 2004, so it seems like we were doing some playing with Harris in summer 2004.

http://www.astrograssmusic.com
 

Update: I found the full CD the other day and asked Jordan, again, to fill in the blanks. Here is his response and 7 additional tracks:

So the deal with this room was this: It was a ‘demo’/showroom for this Concertinio product in midtown NYC.
The product was a complete installation of a high-end music performance system installed into wealthy people’s homes. The walls of the room get completely covered in speakers and there are small microphones all over the ceiling. When you play music with the system on, it suddenly sounds like you’re playing in a huge auditorium, rather than a small room. It was pretty amazing. There were different settings to use with the system, hence the ‘introductions’ by the technician at the beginning of each track. I think Dennis went to college with the guy who was working for the inventor. They hired us to demo the room throughout the day while interested people checked it out. It was very interesting to play there.

 

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Projects With Astrograss 2004

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harris ‘n’ dave at levels, june 19th, 1993

I wonder if anyone still has a poster from this event? If I’ve left anyone off the performer list, please let me know!

Harris Wulfson – Violin, Mandolin, Guitar, Vocals
Dave Sollors – Guitar, Vocals
Jamie Forrest – bass
Russell Gellman – drums
Dan Horwitz – keyboards

The Brass Holes:
Alex Feinman
Ben Whitney
Mike Kohan
 

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Harris 'n' Dave at LEVELS, June 19th, 1993

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projects with rowland stebbins

Harris played with Freyja Balmer Gallagher on Rowland Stebbins’ EP titled Hook, Line & Sinker, 2002. Rowland graciously allowed me to post all the tracks from the album as well as track 7 from Rowland’s album, All Over, which Harris played with Rowland at Merlefest in 2003.

https://rowlandstebbins.bandcamp.com/music
 

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With Rowland Stebbins

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rhythm ranch

I found this CD in Harris’ collection. The .cda files are dated 12/31/1994.

Rhythm Ranch
Jen Larson, guital and vocals
Tony DeLello, guitar and vocals
Todd Collins, mandolin
Harris Wulfson, fiddle
Ken Forrest, bass and vocals

A note from Jen Larson:
Rhythm Ranch was the name that I came up with for that configuration and that recording date for WKCR. Tony Dilello (guitarist in NYC) made those CD’s for everyone in the group, it was never commercially released. So, in other words, that CD is one of a few copies, and a snapshot of all of us on that particular day.

https://www.facebook.com/JenLarsonMusic/
http://www.myspace.com/jenlarsonnycbluegrass

 

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Rhythm Ranch 1994

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sweet jeebus, january 31st, 2004

Harris sent me these tracks a couple years ago. Lauren found an email that I think might go with them:

…and something completely different: my final gig this past saturday
as the drummer in Sweet Jeebus. I’m playing drums on 1-6 and mandolin
(not so well, alas) on 7-12. And I sing on 9.
love,
-Harris

Who played in this group? I think it was Matt Donahue, Juliana Trivers, Ryan Dorin, and Ben Herzog

 

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Sweet Jeebus, January 31st, 2004

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MATT DONAHUE – September 23, 2008
Yes, this is Sweet Jeebus playing downstairs at the Knitting Factory for a Look ‘n Listen Festival fundraiser. I think this was December in 2004. This was Harris’s last show with us as drummer. The lineup was:

Harris: drums vocals tracks 1-6, mandolin vocals 7-12
Me: Vocals, acoustic guitar tracks 1-6, vocals, drums 7-12.
Brad Shank: Electric Guitar
Mark Yokoyama: acoustic guitar, vocals
Ben Herzog: Bass, Vocals
Ryan Dorin: electric piano
Juliana Trivers: Fiddle, vocals
Michael Gomez: lap steel guitar

Needless to say the stage was crowded. Harris’s arrangement of Vincent 1952 is pure genius. He also was the inspiration for the klezmer like ending on chitlin cooking time.

metropolitan klezmer

metropolitan klezmer

Metropolitan Klezmer between sets at Tonic, early 1999: Debby Karpel, Ismail Butera, Michael Hess, Steve Elson, Pam Fleming, Eve Sicular, Dave Hofstra and Harris Wulfson in the wine cellar on the Lower East Side. photo by Dennis Kleiman

Metropolitan Klezmer‘s Eve Sicular has kindly allowed me to share some music tracks from two CDs on which Harris played:

Yiddish For Travelers, 1997
Harris performs as guest violinist on tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 12, and 13 (5 & 6 below)

and

Mosaic Persuasion, 2000
Harris performs as guest violinist on tracks 9 and 15

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With Metropolitan Klezmer

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Remembering Harris 7.31.08
Our dear musician comrade and friend, Harris Wulfson, died suddenly last week. We remember him fondly, for his sweetness with the violin and all else. His intellect and humor were tremendous yet unassuming. He had a great smile, endless enthusiasm, and an easy sense of irony. And he just loved music.

Harris had a deep devotion to Yidishkayt, and also applied his talents to his many other interests, such as bluegrass, funk, rap, new and electronic music of types I am at a loss to describe. He could play le jazz hot as well as Irish tunes, Yiddish swing or Bulgarian 11/4, and imbue it all with gorgeous, fun spirit. His gifts could also be heard through mandolin, accordion, guitar, and however else he expressed his natural musicality.

Many of our New York-area fans may remember Harris as our genial guest artist and outstanding soloist on Metropolitan Klezmer shows at Tonic, Makor, Fez, Cornelia Street Cafe, and others; he also appeared as a guest Klezbian on occasion (I will soon post pictures just found again from Harris on an outdoor Isle of Klezbos show in front of St Mark’s Church in 1999). We even created a New Year’s Eve klezmer band once at Caravan of Dreams. His most recent public performance with us was at Nuyorican Poets Cafe last year, a special Isle of Klezbos show; we also enjoyed performing together for recent weddings in Manhattan and verdant settings upstate. If memory serves, he also performed in our accordionist Ismail Butera’s project Sharqija, playing Music of the Silk Road.

Harris had a special ear for music of Eastern Europe, and called certain parts of that region the Klez Belt (as one of his friends posted this week). Anyone who has listened to our first two CDs Yiddish For Travelers and Mosaic Persuasion has heard Harris’ violin stylings on several tracks where he was a featured guest. It was a joy to mix studio sessions he had recorded, every take was a fresh delight. In the MP cover art, he is the soulful young fiddler in the red shirt all the way to the right side of the Metropolitan Klezmer band photo. This 1999 picture is by Dennis Kleiman.

Harris was also the person who first set us up with a website, which he could casually encode in a few minutes during early dot com days. His own creative adventures took him in so many directions, he leaves remarkable memories for us all. He was also a deeply principled, dapper, occasionally yet adorably spacey mentsh who was constantly open to learning.

To learn more about Harris, and hear his very moving and innovative original compositions, here is his own website. (He attended graduate studies at Cal Arts as well as CUNY; one email to me included a p.s. reading: “Dr. Harris eventually.”)

He has left us much too soon, but we are grateful for having known him. It is still very hard to believe he will not be here to play with us next time. We miss him deeply and send his family wishes for strength and peace. May his memory continue for a blessing.

All best,
~Eve for Metropolitan Klezmer and Isle of Klezbos

http://metropolitanklezmer.com

three rap collaborations

During the later part of the Harris n’ Dave era, the guys got interested in funk, rap and mixing. This is probably about the time when Harris started formulating ideas for his future band creation, H-Bomb.

Dave will hopefully fill me in since I know I’m leaving a lot out here but I believe the following pieces were influenced by Parliament and The Beastie Boys, with samples from Paul Simon, Tom Lehrer, Benny Goodman and the Soundtrack from The Taking of Pelham 123.

I apologize that track 01 cuts off because the tape I had it on ran out. I’m still looking for a more complete version of this recording.

 

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Three Rap Collaborations

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berklee bluegrass boys 1990

“Live from the Grand Ole Opry, this is the Berklee Bluegrass Boys…”

  • The Berklee Bluegrass Boys were:
    Harris, fiddle and mandolin
    Dave Sollors, guitar
    Alex Raab, bass
    Porter McClister, banjo

I’ve found two recordings so far. One was a practice tape with songs repeated, and the other (August 9th, 1990) sounds more “finished.” I’m posting both of them here, finished tracks first.

 

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Berklee Bluegrass Boys 1990

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pitfalls: brooklyn bluegrass, january 24, 2001

I found these four recordings last night. Can anyone tell me anything about them? It sounds like a project demo. Is Harris playing all the instrument parts or are there other players? Who is the female singer? Help?

**Edit: Thank you, Freyja! I’m reposting your comment from below up here:

freyja balmer gallagher
August 29, 2008

Hey Mishka — this is a Pitfalls demo. I’m singing with Harris and playing bass, Juliana and Harris playing fiddle (Harris traded off fiddle and mandolin, Matt on Drums and Brad Shanks on guitar. It was recorded in my basement at 347 Grand St. in Brooklyn by Rob Viola.

 

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Pitfalls: Brooklyn Bluegrass, January 24, 2001

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