Big Harp George – No Short Cuts
Self-Released
16 Tracks – 68 minutes
San Francisco’s singer, songwriter, and chromatic harp player Big Harp George Bisharat returns for his eighth album consisting of sixteen original songs all written by him. The former criminal defense attorney and University of California Law Professor now focused on his music kicked off his professional solo recordings in 2014 with his debut album, Chromaticism, which gained him a Blues Music Award nomination for Best New Artist.
George plays the chromatic harp and sings on all tracks. The album has a long list of guest performers playing with him, but some of the key players are Aaron Lington on baritone sax and Chris Burns on keyboards on all tracks. Kid Andersen plays guitar on all tracks and adds banjo, bass and fretless bass on individual tracks. Derrick D’Mar Martin plays drums on all but one track and adds percussion on several tracks. Doug Rowan also plays tenor sax on all but one track and adds the alto flute on one track. Joe Kyle plays bass on all but one track. Marcel Smith, James Morgan, and Dwayne Morgan provide additional vocals on ten tracks.
The aptly named “Come out Swinging” does exactly that with George propelling the jazzy instrumental with his chromatic harp dominating with Aaron’s sax also taking a solo shot. George’s songs frequently toss in humor. “Supplemental Life” adheres to that premise as a guide to what store-bought health products (and others – “Mushroom powders can do wonders for you”) can “increase my longevity”. “Yes Dear” has doo-wop backing vocals and offers the marital advice that “your every wish is my command”. Kid gets an extended guitar run on this song. George shifts back to a slow blues instrumental on Sun Drifting” with Chris Burns’s piano setting the initial tone.
With tongue not too deeply in his cheek, Geroge compares carnival life with political rhetoric as he notes “Carnival barker strutting in his booth spouting lies through a megaphone, red, white & blue…throwing church to the crowd and calling it news”. “Rubberneckers clap when the tightrope sways. gasping and shouting when they fall on their face”. “I Will Find You” grows more serious with a middle eastern sounding guitar opener as he addresses, “They came from lands of cross and crown where prayers were hushed and books burned down”. He pledges, I will find you and guide you to land”. Charlie Bisharat plays violin on “Bury My Head” as George expresses his frustration for daily life and declares “I need to take a break, I’m gonna bury my head in the sand”. “Everyone tells me you have to face facts someday, but no one tells me why it has to be today.” He determines that he “Struck Out Again” in a “stormy night in Oakland and I cannot seem to find me a friend”. The first one was so sweet, ain’t seen such beauty in God knows when. She just laughed and walked away.” He runs through a list of his additional failures and determines “Well, I drain me one last double. Slide off my Barstool to face the rain…knowing that I struck out again.”
Mike Olmos guests on trumpet and Lisa Andersen provides backing vocals as George offers the advice with some Dixieland swing “If you want to be adored “Be Adorable”. “Honey, ain’t no shortcuts to love.” “If you want to be loved, it must be earned.” Lisa joins George for a duet on “Do You Remember”, a soft romantic blues with Chris’ tinkling piano sliding things along as they look back at “everything we once held dear”. “I guess we know that beauty cannot last”. They further throw in “Now prices are soaring. ” Do you ever remember before AI was a thing? No robot was lurking to crown themselves as king”. “Last Trip to Itaipu” is a Latin-based instrumental dedicated to George’s late friend Roberto Kant de Lima who introduced him to Brazil’s musical traditions. In another whimsical and jazzy number, he asks “What’s Wrong with Dying?” “All of you trying to pass a century, gotta a question for you, maybe it’s just me, what’s the point of trying to last past your prime. We are all living on borrowed time”.
” Mista Boins!” offers a final bouncy instrumental with Chris’ organ supporting George’s harp. Cahrlie Bisharat rejoins on violin on “Rusty Spoon” which is dedicated to world -wide political prisoners citing “You can chain the body, cage the mind, breath of freedom the soul will find. Every wall’s just misery spoken, ain’t no lock can’t be broken.” “Death Rattle of The Republic” begins with a lean rendition of the opening notes of “The Battle Hymn of The Republic” and quickly shifts to a more somber tone as he expresses his political views of the nation as he proclaims “Ain’t no glory here, no truth marching on, just a death rattle dressed up as a song.” “All of God’s party launching their rockets, lying politicians lining their own pockets. When the planet dies and it’s coming soon. They’ll leave us all, here and fly up to the moon”. The song closes with “Taps” He concludes with a melancholic warning that “One Day” “you will be judged” and offers the observation “Pray to your Gods while bombing babies, never once touched by shame”.
Big Harp George and his entire musical team deliver an excellent album. George’s well-written lyrics whether whimsical or cynical are nonetheless always thought provoking. Come early for the fun and stay to learn the many concerns he is feeling alongside so many others in today’s environment. His messages are clear and meant to stimulate your mind.
