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David B Harris

David Harris has distinguished himself as a trombonist, tubist, and composer/arranger in a multitude of musical styles. Born in University City, MO., a 1981 graduate of New England Conservatory as a classical trombonist, and a freelance-artist in the Boston area since 1980, Mr. Harris associates with a wide variety of musicians performing jazz, R&B, rock, pop, and a wide variety international folk music. David is longtime trombonist and composer/arranger for the avant- garde big band Jazz Composers’ Alliance, with whom he performs and records. As a jazz composer, he has three times won the Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship for music composition. On both tuba and trombone, David has been performing with the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble since 2010. They specialize in a new breed of 2nd-line jazz, merging traditional New Orleans grooves and repertoire with Funk and contemporary Jazz improvization. Mr. Harris is an associate-professor at Berklee College of Music, teaching harmony, arranging, and coaching ensembles, and provides trombone instruction at Wellesley College. David has been featured in recordings on over 40 albums, in the soundtrack for Woody Allen’s “Deconstructing Harry”, the klezmer soundtrack for the movie “Stranger Among Us”, the soundtrack for the movie “Opposite of Sex,” and various TV soundtracks and commercials as well. A leader in the klezmer revival, David was the founding trombonist for the Klezmer Conservatory Band, with whom he recorded and toured. David was also trombonist/arranger for the klezmer music ensemble Shirim, noted for their “Klezmer Nutcracker” and klezmer version of Peter and the Wolf- “Pinkus and the Pig”, which he co-arranged, and the the modernist version of the ensemble, Naftule’s Dream. Mr. Harris has performed around the world, including the Berlin Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, the Sauti za Busara in Zanzibar, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, with the Philadelphia Pops, at the Smithsonian Institute, and in jazz clubs such as the Blue Note, the Knitting Factory and Tonic

Awards

3 time finalist Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship for Composition


Tags

Primary Instrument

Trombone

Credentials/Background

I teach core HAarmony (Fundamentals, MAT, Harmony 2-4) and Reharmonization Techniques at Berklee. I am an associate professor, full time.

Fred Wesley
trombone
James Brown
vocals
Steely Dan
band / ensemble / orchestra
Earth, Wind & Fire
band / ensemble / orchestra

Photos

Videos

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