About Barry Harris

There is more than one artist with this name: an American jazz pianist and a Canadian dance music DJ. 1) Barry Harris (born December 15, 1929) is an American bebop jazz pianist and educator. Born in Detroit, Michigan, on December 15, 1929, Barry Harris was influenced by Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk. Harris left Detroit for New York City in 1960. Harris has played with Cannonball Adderley, Illinois Jacquet, Coleman Hawkins, Dexter Gordon, and Max Roach. As a lead artist, he has recorded over 14 albums. Harris appears in the 1989 documentary film, "Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser" (produced by Clint Eastwood) performing duets with Tommy Flanagan. During the 1970s Harris lived with Monk and his family at the New Jersey home of the jazz patroness Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, and so was in an excellent position to comment on the last years of his fellow pianist. In the Eighties, Harris maintained a unique institution, the Jazz Cultural Theater, in a former restaurant storefront on Eighth Ave near 23rd Street in Manhattan. There he taught group music and piano lessons, as well as hosted his own performances and those of other like-minded artists. His album "For the Moment" was recorded there. His approach to the teaching of jazz used methods and techniques that pre-date the Berklee school and the Lydian Chromatic approach of George Russell. He relied upon the 6th chord and the 8-note, rather than seven-note, jazz scale as a basis for melody and harmony. This is the material used by Bud Powell, Joseph Schillinger, George Gershwin, Glenn Miller, and even Frédéric Chopin. He emphasized the concept of building a repertoire of one's own "musical movements" over common licks and phrases. The Jazz Cultural Theater lasted as long as the students and audiences kept the doors open. Mr. Harris had an illness, which required all his attention, and the theater closed at that time. In 2000, he was profiled in the film "Barry Harris - Spirit of Bebop". 2) Barry Harris is a Canadian dance music DJ, remixer and musician. He has been associated with the bands Kon Kan and Killer Bunnies, and has collaborated with Chris Cox in the production team Thunderpuss, who have produced hit dance mixes for Madonna, Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Whitney Houston, Enrique Iglesias, Jennifer Lopez, Mary J. Blige, Céline Dion and LeAnn Rimes, among others. Harris is currently also one of the most popular DJs on the dance club scene in North America. 3) Barry Harris (born October 1991) is an American singer-song writer. Barry Harris began playing piano at age 4. By the age of 10, he began writing his own music and with in two years has written over 100 songs. Barry has made television appearances on "American Idol Juniors" and "America's Most Talented Kids" and has volunteered his talent for many charity events. Barry hopes someday to have a professional music career. He wants to show the youth of today that good music doesn't have to be about sex and violence to sound great.