Jazz Articles about Stefon Harris

Stefon Harris: Pursuing the Tradition

by R.J. DeLuke
October 5, 2018

Musician and composer Stefon Harris wears many hats. But he wears them all well. He is a composer, performer, bandleader, businessman, educator and leadership trainer. He handles each with a clear head, confidence and sense of purpose. He's bright, articulate and relates to people on any level. Harris' to-do list on any given day can involve the fact that he is associate dean and director of the Arts Department at the Manhattan School of Music. ...

Stefon Harris & Blackout: Sonic Creed

by Dan Bilawsky
September 5, 2018

In its most basic function, the music that makes up Sonic Creed serves as a mirror to African American life in the here and now. It explores the history, legacy, struggles, and joys of the Black community, speaking to all of it at once through sound and sentiment. Sonic Creed arrives almost a decade after this groove outfit's last showing--Urbanus (Concord, 2009)--but the time away hasn't hurt the band. If anything, Blackout has become a more limber ...

Stefon Harris / David Sanchez / Christian Scott: Ninety Miles

by Ian Patterson
August 29, 2011

On paper, Ninety Miles was a tantalizing project from the beginning; bringing together three of the most exciting voices in modern jazz--Puerto Rican-born tenor saxophonist David Sanchez, New Orleans trumpeter Christian Scott, and New York vibraphonist Stefon Harris-- and transport them to Havana to play with two outstanding, piano-led Cuban jazz quartets. The American red tape took a year to negotiate--which shows a dogged determination of sorts on all sides--but the musical connection that resulted was clearly instant, judging by ...

Stefon Harris / David Sanchez / Christian Scott: Ninety Miles

by John Kelman
July 11, 2011

They're all relative youngsters in a jazz world that still finds nonagenarians like Dave Brubeck hitting the summer festival circuit. Tenor saxophonist David Sánchez may be the elder statesman on the marquis of Ninety Miles, with vibraphonist Stefon Harris in the middle position at 38 and trumpeter Christian Scott still on the shy side of 30, but each of them has already made his mark, making this an all-star in-the-making American/Cuban collaboration on an upward trajectory. Scott's ...

Stefon Harris and Blackout in Golden, CO

by Geoff Anderson
October 29, 2009

Stefon Harris and Blackout Mt. Vernon Country Club Golden, CO October 15, 2009

Stefon Harris is like one of those small, wiry running backs that gets the job done through finesse and quickness rather than brute force. Indeed, at his concert Thursday night at the Mt. Vernon Country Club, Harris sometimes darted back and forth in front of his vibraphone reaching between the bass clef and treble clef like a ball carrier cutting ...

Stefon Harris: Authenticity and Audacity

by R.J. DeLuke
September 22, 2009

Authenticity is a special word for vibraphone wizard Stefon Harris when it comes to his art, which springs from the tradition of jazz music, but is approached through a modern lens that takes into account the sounds and perspective of 2009. He has enough audacity--also a special word for Harris--to say it clearly, to elucidate what he is going for in his music. And he has enough audacity on the bandstand to go for it. “It's ...

Stefon Harris & Blackout: Urbanus

by John Kelman
August 26, 2009

Since emerging in the late 1990s as the vibraphonist of his generation, Stefon Harris has been unfairly tagged as an overly cerebral player for Blue Note projects like the elaborate Grand Unification Theory (2003) and African Tarantella: Dances for Duke (2006). Evolution (Blue Note, 2004), Harris' first with his groove-happy Blackout band, went a long way to demonstrating a capacity for making accessible music with plenty going on under the hood. Following a few years of touring--including outstanding 2006 performances ...