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THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS & E N T E R T A I N
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December 16, 2021 - December 22, 2021 • 23
BARRY HARRIS, PIANIST BEBOP KEEPER, DIES AT 91 rell, Alice Coltrane’s (maiden name was McCloud) older sister. He was classmates with the founder of Motown Records, Berry Gordy Jr. who also played piano. “I was 17 when I first saw Charlie Parker at a dance hall and 21 when I saw Art Tatum,” said Harris. “I became entrenched with Charlie Parker and Bud Powell.” He was also influenced by Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins, and Thelonious Monk. (Mirko Caserta (https://commons.wikimedia.org/ Detroit, a jazz wiki/File:Barry_Harris.jpg), „Barry Harris“, https:// haven from the 1930s creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode) through the 1950s. (known as the Jazz Baroness), who was Harris’ favorite place as a teenager a devoted patron of jazz and an heir of was the Blue Bird Lounge, where he the Rothschild fortune. Monk’s popular watched musicians like Miles Davis tune, “Pannonica,” is named after her, as and Sonny Stitt through the window. well as Harris’ “Inca.” In 1963, she invited As a teenager he was befriended by Harris to live in her home in Weehawken, saxophonist Gene Ammons whose piN.J., along with a multitude of cats. A few anist was Junior Mance. “Junior would years later Monk moved in and resided sometimes get up and let me play in his there until his death in 1982. The house spot with Gene, I was only 17 then,” said contained two pianos next to each other, Harris. Many of his friends in high school giving them the opportunity to become followed him and his group because they close friends while practicing together for played dance music and gave dances. In hours a day. The baroness died in 1988, an AmNews interview he shared, “When but she stipulated in her will that Harris you think about it, the dancing is what is could stay in the house until his death. missing today from jazz, the dancing is a Harris at age 84, was a marquee key part to the music that was lost.” magnet regardless of the country. When When Harris was old enough to play in he appeared at the Village Vanguard jazz bars, he became a regular pianist at the club in New York City, the line extend- Rouge Lounge where he backed some of ed down the block. “Once I heard bebop his favorite musicians like Lester Young. in Detroit, I didn’t want to play anything He sometimes sat in with bebop hero else and that urge continues today,” said Charlie Parker, when he was in town. Harris during an interview with this Harris made practicing a daily ritual writer for the AmNews. “I like playing bal- and many musicians such as Frank lads, they are so beautiful. The great com- Foster, John Coltrane, Bennie Maupin posers like Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin and Joe Henderson stopped by his aren’t played much in a jazz context.” house regularly to get advice from him Harris appears in the 1989 documen- and share musical concepts. Bassist tary film “Thelonious Monk: Straight, No James Jamerson and pianist/organist Chaser” (produced by Clint Eastwood), Earl Van Dyke, who were regulars, acperforming duets with Tommy Flanagan. knowledged Harris’ mentoring influIn 2000, he was profiled in the film “Barry ence. They both went on to become Harris—Spirit of Bebop.” legends in the Motown Records studio Barry Doyle Harris was born on De- band The Funk Brothers. In his early cember 15, 1929 in Detroit, Michi- jazz days Jamerson was an occasional gan. He was the fourth of five children. member of Harris’ trio. His father, Melvin, was a mechanic; his In the early 1950s Harris received a mother, Bessie (nee Johnson), was a call from saxophonist Benny Golson rechurch pianist at Mt. Zion Hill Baptist questing that he come to New York for Church. She began teaching him piano his recording date; he soon returned to at age 4. Harris later played at the church record with Thad Jones. Returning in as an adolescent. 1955, he joined Max Roach with Donald With no piano readily available for Byrd, Sonny Rollins and Clifford Brown. band members at his junior high school, In 1958 he recorded his first album as a Harris took to the clarinet; faced with the leader “Breakin’ It Up” (Argo Records) same problem at North Eastern High with bassist William Austin and drumSchool, he played bass in the school’s or- mer Frank Grant. chestra and band. “I played clarinet and After his stint with Cannonball Adderbass just to be in the band but I always ley in 1960, Harris remained in New York played piano. Piano is my life,” Harris City’s jazz environment. That same year stated to Scott during an interview. he led his own trio on the album “Barry Harris graduated from high school in Harris at the Jazz Workshop” with bassist 1947; his prom date was Margaret Far- Sam Jones and drummer Louis Hayes. Barry Harris in 2007
Barry Harris, the bandleader, composer, educator and bebop piano perfectionist and interpreter, who kept the idiom alive on stages throughout the world and taught his music fundamentals to thousands of students for seven decades, died on December 8, at Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, N.J. He was 91 and lived in Weehawken, N.J. Harris had been hospitalized for the last two weeks and died of complications due to COVID, said Kira von OstenfeldSuske, who was part of a small support team of friends and students that helped Harris in recent years. He continued to lead classes on Zoom for about 100 international students until two weeks before his death. Last month in November, this writer had the pleasure of seeing him at a concert celebrating NEA Jazz Masters at Flushing Town Hall in Queens. Standing ovations greeted him as he was assisted on stage. He had to be assisted on playing the first Monk tune but by the second tune, it came together, as he implemented those lingering improvisational chord structures. He followed with a blues duet and banter with his good friend of 70 years and fellow Detroit native Sheila Jordan. He also sang a rendition of his noted ballad, “The Bird of Red and Gold.” Unfortunately, that was to be his last performance. Somewhat slowed by a stroke in 1993, Harris soon returned to form and continued to perform all over the world until the COVID-19 pandemic shut down clubs and concert halls in 2020. “At 21 years old, I became a student of Barry Harris. He taught me a way of looking at the piano, at chord structure, that I have never seen anywhere else (before or since),” said pianist, composer and producer Rodney Kendrick. “His teachings have allowed me to dive deeper into the music of Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Monk, Duke, Randy Weston, and a host of others. His teachings have allowed me to forge my own sound based on the foundation that they left. Barry Harris was my mentor and my friend, one of my musical friends and truly a gift to us all.” Harris was a consummate freelancer who enjoyed playing in a variety of diverse settings from a local spot in Detroit to inaugurating the Lincoln Center’s Penthouse piano series in 1997. His many honors include NEA Jazz Master in 1989; honorary doctorate from Northwestern University in 1995; 1998 Lifetime Achievements Award for Contributions to the Music World from the National Association of Negro Musicians; and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In New York, Harris befriended the Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter
During that time, he met Monk which developed into a life-long friendship. In 1961 he signed with Riverside Records and recorded “Listen to Barry Harris,” a solo album that featured his originals “Ascension” and “Sphere.” This early recording demonstrates a rich bold tone that keeps giving, each note is profoundly accented and touches your heart like a warm mother’s touch and swings softly with fluctuating melodies and cascading rhythms. As a youngster Harris was in awe of Coleman Hawkins and listened to his music constantly. In 1965, he performed with Hawkins and played with the saxophonist until his death in 1969. He sometimes sat in with Parker, bebop’s leading man, when he was in town. Harris became a first call pianist for musicians such as Sonny Stitt, Illinois Jacquet, Dexter Gordon, Lee Morgan, and Charles McPherson. During that 20 year-span, he also recorded 19 albums as a leader. He appeared on albums with Adderley and other musicians, including saxophonists Dexter Gordon and Hank Mobley. He was a key contributor to trumpeter Lee Morgan’s “The Sidewinder,” which became a jazz hit in 1964. Harris’ desire to teach and play music in a friendly nurturing environment for young and established musicians led to the creation of the Jazz Cultural Theater (JCT), a storefront located between 28th and 29th Street on 8th Avenue. The co-founders and partners were Harris, bassist Larry Ridley, jazz promoter Jim Harrison and Frank Fuentes. The project was financed by Baroness Pannonica. JCT was also known for Harris’ music classes for vocalists and instrumentalists. It was a popular jazz scene until the landlord doubled the rent. Harris recorded his album “For the Moment” (Uptown Records, 1984) at the site. “Barry single-handedly went out and took bebop around the world and back again as a teacher, and artist,” said saxophonist, composer and owner of Bill’s Place Bill Saxton. “I had the pleasure of studying with Barry in 1976, he was a master. I have watched his uniquely styled music program evolve into a format for jazz studies program.” Over the years beginning in 1974, Harris utilized various sites to run his weekly workshops including University of the Streets and Manhattan’s Lincoln Square Community Center. Often over 50 aspiring and established musicians and singers attended. Harris’ lessons will be a part of their musical DNA for life. “The most important thing I have done as a musician and educator is to teach young people how to play jazz,” stated Harris during an interview with AmNews. “My main thing is to keep jazz alive. I travel the world from Europe, to Japan and Spain to play and teach this music.” Harris is survived by his daughter, Carol Geyer, and son-in-law, Keith Geyer, who live in metro Detroit.
