Jazz Articles about Barry Harris

Barry Harris at the Village Vanguard

by Bob Kenselaar
February 8, 2012

Barry HarrisVillage VanguardNew York, NYJanuary 15, 2012 Ambling in from the back of the room, Barry Harris introduced his trio to the crowd at the Village Vanguard as the musicians filed in ahead of him: Ray Drummond on bass, Leroy Williams on drums, and then he announced, with a wink, “I'm Barry Johnson." Of course, everybody in the audience was well familiar with the name of the living legend they were there to see. ...

Barry Harris: Live In Rennes

by Dan Bilawsky
January 10, 2011

The city of Detroit was once an incubator for some of the greatest jazz piano talent in the world. Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan and Sir Roland Hanna all came from the Motor City and contributed volumes to jazz history. Sadly, all three of those giants are gone now, but Barry Harris is keeping the flame alive. Harris is the last man standing from this exclusive club, and he continues to educate the masses through his workshops in New York and ...

Barry Harris: Setting The Standard On Standards

by Dan Bilawsky
February 8, 2010

The Barry Harris Trio Iridium New York, NY February 4, 2010Barry Harris has been a major force in jazz and jazz education for well over half a century. Now in his 80s, Harris seems to have lost none of his charm, wit, knowledge and skill, as he clearly held the crowd in the palm of his hand during his stay at the Iridium—just north of Times Square in Manhattan. This 75-minute set emphasized well-known songs ...

Barry Harris and Mal Waldron: Passing It On / A Portrait

by Francis Lo Kee
July 12, 2008

Barry Harris: Passing It On / A Portrait of Mal Waldron Rhapsody Films 2008This DVD release collects two films about two significant jazz pianists—Barry Harris and Mal Waldron. The first film is a short (23 minutes) but wonderfully personable glimpse into the life of pianist/educator Harris, who describes himself at the film's beginning as an “inveterate be-bopper," a man dedicated to that part of the jazz language he calls “the beginning and end of music." What ...

Barry Harris in New York

by Tom Dwyer
March 16, 2006

Barry Harris is one of the world's most respected jazz piano players and teachers, considered by many to be the foremost interpreter of the music of Bud Powell, Tadd Dameron and Thelonious Monk. For more than half a century, Harris has played with the giants of jazz including Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Cannonball Adderley and Coleman Hawkins, traveling the world over as an ambassador of jazz. But for forty-some years, no matter where he's been, Harris ...

Barry Harris: A Thousand Percent Music Man

by Andrew Velez
February 12, 2006

During a recent conversation, Barry Harris (75) was asked about his plans for the future. It evoked an instantaneous explosion of laughter from him before he replied, “Don't ask me that! The life I lead is the life I lead. The recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from Northwestern University, in person Dr. Harris is a physically unprepossessing 5' 6½ . “Yah, put da half in there, he remarks, punctuating it with one of his frequent chuckles. Talking with this warm, ...

Barry Harris: Live in New York

by Jack Bowers
March 13, 2004

Maestro Barry Harris, who's never at a loss for an appropriate note or phrase, leads a well-coordinated quintet through its paces on this smooth-as-velvet but no less invigorating date, recorded 'on location' (we're not told where) in New York City.

Harris, one of the leading bop pianists of the past forty years and now an elder statesman at age seventy-four, remains at the top of his game, enhancing his marvelous chops with a storehouse of resourceful ideas whose ...