I was very saddened to read that Jet Harris - one of the original Shadows - died yesterday from cancer at the age of 71. Following his departure from the legendary guitar based band in 1962, he had a few cracking singles.......I especially remember Diamonds from 1963. Jet Harris and Tony Meehan (who had also been in The Shadows) must have been one of the very first rock duos.
One of the earliest Beatles recordings (from Germany in 1961) features a Harrison - Lennon instrumental entitled Cry For A Shadow. It's a kind of affectionate send-up of The Shadows...... and Hank Marvin's distinctive style (also much admired by Neil Young) is clearly discernible. About two thirds of the way through though you can hear (twice) a kind of scream. This was known at the time as the Jet Harris Yell. I first happened upon this in around 1967 when an Australian company bought up these early recordings and released this one as a single:
Jet Harris RIP/ influence on The Beatles
Posted - 19/03/2011 : 15:28:25
