Hair Is Beautiful
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Album Summary
Recorded in 1969 and released on Contemporary Records, 'Hair Is Beautiful' found the incomparable Barney Kessel doing what only a guitarist of his deep soulful conviction could do — taking the songs of the wildly popular Broadway musical 'Hair' and running them through the warm, burnished lens of jazz. Produced by Lester Koenig, the album was very much a product of its cultural moment, arriving when the counterculture was in full bloom and jazz musicians across the spectrum were reaching out to touch the sounds that were moving the younger generation. Koenig, ever the thoughtful steward of Contemporary's catalog, gave Kessel the space to interpret these tunes with both reverence and improvisational freedom, resulting in a record that felt as natural as a late-night jam session.
Reception
- The album did not make a significant splash on the mainstream charts, as jazz records of this period rarely crossed over into pop territory, but it found a warm and appreciative audience among jazz faithful who trusted Kessel's taste implicitly.
- Critics of the era were generally kind, noting that Kessel brought genuine warmth and swing to material that in lesser hands might have felt like a cynical cash-in on the 'Hair' phenomenon.
- The record was well-regarded within the Contemporary Records catalog as a thoughtful and musically honest engagement with the pop and theatrical sounds of the late 1960s.
Significance
- 'Hair Is Beautiful' stands as a meaningful document of how jazz musicians in the late 1960s were actively in conversation with the broader cultural upheaval happening around them, refusing to stay locked in an ivory tower while the world was changing outside.
- Barney Kessel's approach to the 'Hair' songbook helped demonstrate that the Great American Songbook was now expanding to include rock-era and theatrical compositions, a shift that would define jazz repertoire choices well into the 1970s and beyond.
- The album is a fine example of Contemporary Records' ongoing commitment to presenting jazz artists in contexts that were both artistically serious and culturally engaged, a philosophy that kept the label relevant through a turbulent decade.
Tracklist
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A1 Aquarius 91
4:21
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A2 Frank Mills 85
3:41
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A3 Where Do I Go 95
4:50
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A4 I Got Life 118
3:48
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A5 Walking In Space 119
3:36
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B1 Ain't Got No 104
3:35
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B2 Easy To Be Hard 85
4:05
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B3 Be-In (Hare Krishna) —
3:26
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B4 Good Morning Starshine 94
3:50
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B5 Donna 95
3:15
Artist Details
Barney Kessel was one of the most gifted jazz guitarists to ever grace this beautiful planet, born in Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1923, and he made his name in the swinging clubs and studios of Los Angeles where his fluid, bop-inflected style put him in the company of legends like Oscar Peterson and Charlie Parker. His work as both a solo artist and an in-demand session guitarist placed him at the heart of West Coast jazz, and his three *Poll Winners* albums with Ray Brown and Shelly Manne in the late 1950s are stone-cold classics that belong in every serious music collection. Kessel's influence stretched far beyond jazz purists — his studio work helped shape the sound of countless recordings across multiple genres, cementing his legacy as one of the true unsung architects of American music.
