His workshops were staple in New York City from the 1970s, including a five-year period from 1982 to 1987 at the Jazz Cultural Theater, which he co-founded. Some aspects of his method eventually seeped into the mainstream of jazz education, although Harris never held an official position in any academy beyond temporary residences. The fundamentals developed by Harris in the 1950s have remained the backbone of his teaching. Future Motown bassist James Jamerson also studied with Harris, and when John Coltrane was performing in Detroit, he would stop to see what new angle Harris was exploring. Trumpeter Donald Byrd, bassists Paul Chambers and Doug Watkins, trombonist Curtis Fuller and saxophonists Pepper Adams, Charles McPherson and Joe Henderson are among the important musicians who grew up under his tutelage. Harris, a precocious sage, was instrumental in priming the pump: he was barely in his twenties when he began leading what have become daily seminars at his home. The Jones brothers (Hank, Thad and Elvin), Yusef Lateef, Milt Jackson, Kenny Burrell, Tommy Flanagan and dozens of other future stars have emerged from the city. He then organized a set of rules that help musicians play like natives, without an accent.ĭetroit was one of the most prolific purveyors of talent to the national jazz scene in the mid-century. He micrographed the virtuoso improvisations of Parker, Gillespie and Powell, discovering the musical grammar that makes bebop work – scales, chords, chromatic passing tones. Harris’s passion for teaching grew out of an analytical mind and an ongoing quest for knowledge and self-improvement. On “Stay Right With It”, a blues recorded in 1962 for his LP Hunt the bird, his articulation and inflection are constantly evolving as he tears apart a dozen choirs filled with coiled triplets, vocalized syncopations and expansive phrases. On romantic ballads, his ear for harmonic color and eloquent movement from one chord to another gave his performances the lyrical sparkle of an ode by Shelley. The essence of Harris’ individuality was his narrative expression, his spontaneous flow of melody and harmony, and the intensity of his swing. Its codification of the bebop language stands out from most mundane attempts at jazz theory in academia, because it thereby goes to the heart of a melody. “He orchestrated his melodies and built his improvisations in a lyrical, unhurried and fluid way. “Barry was revered,” said Michael Weiss, one of the many pianists mentored by Harris. His authority stems from a bandstand life and recording experience with countless iconic figures. He was a Talmudic scholar of bebop a beacon of artistic integrity and generosity and a swinging Socrates, guiding students in a quest for truth, beauty and the hottest chords to play on “Indiana” and “Embraceable You”.Īt a time when the traditional apprenticeship system was almost crumbling in jazz, Harris represented a direct connection to the pantheon. But he was more than a peerless soloist and a keeper of the flame. Harris channeled the language and spirit of the founding fathers of bebop – alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, pianists Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk – through his own foxy spirit, vivid harmonic imagination and distinctive rhythmic rumble. He conducted weekly workshops in New York, appeared in clubs and concert halls and has traveled the world teaching and spreading the gospel of bebop – the postwar style that has become the lingua franca of music. One of the leading musicians to emerge from the explosion of modern jazz in Detroit in the 1940s and 1950s, Harris remained indefatigable until the early 1990s. Harris would have turned 92 next week and gave his last lesson, via Zoom, on November 20. Harris had been hospitalized for the past two weeks and died of complications from Covid, said Kira von Ostenfeld-Suske, who was part of a small support team of friends and students who have helped Harris in recent years years. He was 91 years old and lived in Weehawken, NJ. Jazz musician Barry Harris performed at the Henry Fonda Theater in 2006.īarry Harris, a pianist who has carefully preserved the language of bebop throughout a seven-decade career as a brilliant performer and influential teacher, died Wednesday at Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, NJ.
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