Cold Sweat

by David JeffriesIn an interview with Musician magazine, trombonist Craig Harris pointed out that rock musicians hired jazz musicians "because that's where the best players are, pure and simple." An admirer of the emotional directness of R&B and rock, Harris figured "why can't we start a pop band and hire ourselves?" The result was Cold Sweat, a band that could play funky R&B and combine it with jazz's cerebral improvisation. Along with Harris, Cold Sweat included likeminded mavericks and M-Base associates who ignored the rules of genres. Clyde Criner played keyboards, Eddie E.J. Allen played trumpet, Kweyao Agyapon was on percussion, and Alonzo Gardner manned the bass. Folks like Arthur Blythe, Olu Dara, Fred Wells, and Andy Bey dropped in from time to time. In 1989, JMT released their debut, Cold Sweat Plays J.B., an album almost entirely constructed from James Brown songs. The follow-up, 4-Play, came two years later. In 2003, the Winter & Winter label reissued both of the band's albums.