Eight Miles High on bagpipes - Rufus Harley

A few weeks back, I posted a solo acoustic performance of Asturias > Eight Miles High by Roger McGuinn, and commented about how a version of the song on bagpipes would be something to hear.

Well sure enough, such a recording exists. Jazz bigpiper Rufus Harley, who recorded for Atlantic Records in the 60s, played with Sonny Rollins in the 70s and guested on Laurie Anderson's 1982 Big Science album, recorded a version of Eight Miles High on bagpipes for his 1970 Atlantic album Kings / Queens.

Harley, who was of Cherokee descent and sometimes performed in Scottish kilts, got interested in the bagpipes when he saw the funeral of John F. Kennedy on TV and was moved by the sound of the Black Watch bagpipe band.

According to Harley's New York Times obituary, his son Messiah said “My dad was playing a lot of tenor sax then but because Coltrane and Rollins were smoking the sax, that’s why he turned to the bagpipes.”


Take a listen.
Rufus Harley, bagpipes; Richard Tee, piano; Eric Gale, guitar; Charles Rainey, bass; Jimmy Johnson, drums; Montego Joe, conga drum; Nadi Qamar, mamalukembia & Madagascar harp.

 

Asturias > Eight Miles High - Roger McGuinn

A wonderful solo acoustic performance of Eight Miles High by Roger McGuinn at the Pacifico Yokohama Hall, Japan, in November 2007.

Roger brilliantly incorporates "Asturias (Leyenda)" (1892) by Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz (1860–1909) in the intro and later on in the solo. This piece of music was also used by the Doors on "Spanish Caravan" on their 1968 Waiting For The Sun album.

The name Asturias (Leyenda) was given posthumously for the 1911 "complete version" of Albéniz 's Suite española. Despite the name, the music is not particularly Asturian as it is more reminiscent of the flamenco tradition of Andalucia. Asturias is a region of Northern Spain and its folk music borrows more from the Celtic tradition and features the droning Gaita (bagpipe).

Eight Miles High on bagpipes... now that would be something.

Roger's solo here is impressive indeed and the arabesque flamenco motifs go well with Eight Miles High's original eastern flavour - inspired, as the song was, by John Coltrane's India.