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Donald Harrison

Donald Harrison is an NEA Jazz Master

New Orleans born saxophonist Donald Harrison is a musician/composer who master musicians consider a master of every era of jazz, soul, funk, and a composer of orchestral classical music. He is also a genius, according to geniuses like Eddie Palmieri and Mike Clark. In the HBO drama Treme, Emmy winning director David Simon created two characters to portray how Harrison innovated new styles of music. Harrison has appeared as an actor/musician in 9 episodes of Treme, Oscar-winning director Johnathon Demme’s film Rachel Getting Married, Spike Lee’s When The Levee’s Broke documentary, and Marvel’s Luke Cage. This talented artist is the recognized Big Chief of Congo Square in Afro-New Orleans culture and was made a Chief in 2019 by Queen Diambi Kabatusuila in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa.

Harrison honed his experience playing with Roy Haynes, Art Blakey, Eddie Palmieri, Dr. John, Lena Horne, McCoy Tyner, Dr. Eddie Henderson, Miles Davis, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Chuck Loeb, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Digable Planets, Guru’s Jazzmatazz, The Headhunters, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and The Notorious BIG. He has performed with over 200 jazz masters and created three influential styles of jazz. At the age of nineteen, Harrison created a modern jazz take on the New Orleans second-line tradition and introduced his composition New York Second-Line to the jazz world in 1979. By the mid-’80s, he created Nouveau Swing, a distinctive sound that blended the swing beat of modern jazz with hip-hop, funk, and soul music. In the ’90s, Harrison recorded hits in the smooth jazz genre. He began exploring music through the lens of quantum physics in 2000. With quantum jazz, Harrison heard how to move music from a two-dimensional state into a four-dimensional state. Harrison has been a mentor to artist as diverse as The Notorious Big, Jonathon Batiste, Christian Scott, Trombone Shorty, and Esperanza Spaulding.  

In 2020 look for Harrison performing Charlie Parker with strings in tribute to his centennial. He is composing orchestral classical music for upcoming premiers and adding hip-hop/jazz to his multi-genre recordings and performances.

Awards

2007 Jazziz Magazine Person of the Year

2007 Arts Council of New Orleans Community Arts Award Recipient

2008 Big Easy Music Awards Ambassador of Music
 

 

Gear

Donald Harrison is an International Woodwind Artist
http://www.internationalwoodwind.com/


Tags

7
Album Review

Eddie Henderson: Witness To History

Read "Witness To History" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


Make no mistake: it is the hot buttered soul, “Shaft"-like theme of “Scorpio Rising" that first snags one's attention. But once snagged, the old cool sets in and Witness To History, trumpeter Eddie Henderson's self curated soundtrack, unwinds with a wicked fervor. A deep, wicked joy. Henderson--who has pretty much seen it all from the impulsive, jazz rock Realization (Capricorn, 1973) through The Cookers to the still palpable Shuffle and Deal (Smoke Avenue, 2020)--looks back for a PBS ...

5
Album Review

Eddie Henderson: Witness To History

Read "Witness To History" reviewed by Dave Linn


Dr. Eddie Henderson, 82 years old at the time of writing in 2023, has one of the most interesting stories in modern jazz and is a true Renaissance man. His parents were entertainers; his mother was a dancer at the original Cotton Club while his father was a member of the popular singing group Billy Williams and the Charioteers. Later, his stepfather was a doctor to Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Duke Ellington. When he was nine years old, his ...

1
Liner Notes

Dino Betti van der Noot: Here Comes Springtime

Read "Dino Betti van der Noot: Here Comes Springtime" reviewed by AAJ Staff


There are some musicians whose instrument is the orchestra. They hear multiple voices, textures, harmonic designs. And if they are jazz composers, they hear the sweet and pungent tension between the orchestra and the improvising soloist. If, moreover, they are composers interested in more than self-gratification, they hear, as they write, particular players so that the ultimate scores reflect a range of individual personalities, each of them telling their own stories as well as that of the composer.

6
Album Review

The Headhunters: Speakers In The House

Read "Speakers In The House" reviewed by Doug Collette


Herbie Hancock's Headhunters (Columbia, 1973) remains one of the seminal works of the jazz fusion era. The group's heavy emphasis on rhythm not only separated it from its guitar-oriented peers of the era, the Mahavishnu Orchestra and the middle-period Return to Forever, but also from Weather Report: grooves became increasingly more prominent as that band evolved, but never to the depth of Hancock and company's all-encompassing funk. That solid foundation is more than enough distinction for the first ...

3
Album Review

The Headhunters: Speakers In The House

Read "Speakers In The House" reviewed by Chris May


Although it appears to have been self-released in limited numbers in 2019, this Ropeadope release of Speakers In The House is effectively the Headhunters's first album since Platinum (Owl) in 2011. The band continues to be led and produced by its two Herbie Hancock-era members, percussionist Bill Summers and drummer Mike Clark, who together have kept the outfit intermittently active since Hancock moved on to other things in the mid 1970s. Summers played on the band's debut, ...

7
Album Review

Clifford Lamb: Blues & Hues New Orleans

Read "Blues & Hues New Orleans" reviewed by Kyle Simpler


There are quite a few cities in the world that have an important musical legacy, and in many cases, the city's musical history might be one of the first things people associate with it. Take New Orleans. Commonly known as the birthplace of jazz, it's hard to imagine New Orleans without conjuring up brass bands, jazz clubs and juke joints. San Francisco-based pianist Clifford Lamb explores New Orleans' musical and cultural aspects with Blues & Hues New Orleans by offering ...

5
Radio & Podcasts

Art Blakey and the Young Lions - The Marsalis Bros., Donald Harrison Jr, Bobby Watson (1981 - 1991)

Read "Art Blakey and the Young Lions - The Marsalis Bros., Donald Harrison Jr, Bobby Watson (1981 - 1991)" reviewed by Russell Perry


As the 1970s came to a close, many musicians searching for alternatives to jazz-rock fusion or free jazz found a home in straight-ahead acoustic jazz. Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, whose Blue Note contract was not renewed in 1964, had spent a decade in relative obscurity, when he came roaring back with a series of legendary ensembles that fueled this return to jazz classicism. The alumni of this revived band became the core of The Young Lions, as they ...

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1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Harrison

Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Harrison

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Donald Harrison's birthday today!

New Orleans born saxophonist Donald Harrison is a musician/composer who master musicians consider a master of every era of jazz, soul, funk, and a composer of orchestral classical music. He is also a genius, according to geniuses like Eddie Palmieri and Mike Clark. In the HBO drama Treme, Emmy winning director David Simon created two characters to portray how Harrison innovated new styles of music. Harrison has appeared as an actor/musician ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Harrison

Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Harrison

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Donald Harrison's birthday today!

New Orleans born saxophonist Donald Harrison is a musician/composer who master musicians consider a master of every era of jazz, soul, funk, and a composer of orchestral classical music. He is also a genius, according to geniuses like Eddie Palmieri and Mike Clark. In the HBO drama Treme, Emmy winning director David Simon created two characters to portray how Harrison innovated new styles of music. Harrison has appeared as an actor/musician ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Harrison

Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Harrison

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Donald Harrison's birthday today!

New Orleans born saxophonist Donald Harrison is a musician/composer who master musicians consider a master of every era of jazz, soul, funk, and a composer of orchestral classical music. He is also a genius, according to geniuses like Eddie Palmieri and Mike Clark. In the HBO drama Treme, Emmy winning director David Simon created two characters to portray how Harrison innovated new styles of music. Harrison has appeared as an actor/musician ...

5

Recording

Pianist Clifford Lamb's 'Blues & Hues - New Orleans' Features Nicholas Payton, Herlin Riley, Donald Harrison, Roland Guerin & More!

Pianist Clifford Lamb's 'Blues & Hues - New Orleans' Features Nicholas Payton, Herlin Riley, Donald Harrison, Roland Guerin & More!

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations

Following the success of his previous live, two track recording, Blues & Hues, jny: San Francisco pianist Clifford Lamb again teams up with producer Jeff Weber to pursue their concept of the jazz “mashup”—the process in which a Lamb composition is stirred into an existing jazz work to offer a new perspective on history and culture. This time, they took their show on the road —despite COVID-19 restrictions—to record in jny: New Orleans, the storied birthplace of jazz, whose gritty ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Harrison

Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Harrison

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Donald Harrison's birthday today!

Donald Harrison is being called one of the most important musicians of the new millennium by CBS Sunday Morning. A list of his accomplishments shows that he has developed into a musical category unto himself. In the classic jazz genre, he is the originator of the Nouveau Swing style which merges acoustic swing with modern R&B, second-line, hip-hop, Mardi Gras Indian music (New Orleans African American roots culture), and reggae rhythms. ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Harrison

Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Harrison

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Donald Harrison's birthday today!

Donald Harrison is being called one of the most important musicians of the new millennium by CBS Sunday Morning. A list of his accomplishments shows that he has developed into a musical category unto himself. In the classic jazz genre, he is the originator of the Nouveau Swing style which merges acoustic swing with modern R&B, second-line, hip-hop, Mardi Gras Indian music (New Orleans African American roots culture), and reggae rhythms... ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Harrison

Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Harrison

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Donald Harrison's birthday today!

Donald Harrison is being called one of the most important musicians of the new millennium by CBS Sunday Morning. A list of his accomplishments shows that he has developed into a musical category unto himself. In the classic jazz genre, he is the originator of the Nouveau Swing style which merges acoustic swing with modern R&B, second-line, hip-hop, Mardi Gras Indian music (New Orleans African American roots culture), and reggae rhythms... ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Harrison

Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Harrison

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Donald Harrison's birthday today!

Donald Harrison is being called one of the most important musicians of the new millennium by CBS Sunday Morning. A list of his accomplishments shows that he has developed into a musical category unto himself. In the classic jazz genre, he is the originator of the Nouveau Swing style which merges acoustic swing with modern R&B, second-line, hip-hop, Mardi Gras Indian music (New Orleans African American roots culture), and reggae rhythms... ...

2

Event

Donald Harrison Headlines Thailand International Jazz Conference 2017

Donald Harrison Headlines Thailand International Jazz Conference 2017

Source: All About Jazz

It's a thrilling, eclectic, annual three-day, multi-faceted jazz event in a tropical atmosphere that gets underway this week in Thailand. Combos of all kinds, big bands, you name it. It's an extraordinary cultural and beautiful, warm atmosphere. Hundreds of jazz lovers and musicians from a variety of countries eagerly congregate each day at various stages at the College of Music at Bangkok's Salaya campus of prestigious Mahidol University. Plenty of opportunities for education for all ages, performances and socializing around ...

2

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Harrison

Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Harrison

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Donald Harrison's birthday today!

Donald Harrison is being called one of the most important musicians of the new millennium by CBS Sunday Morning. A list of his accomplishments shows that he has developed into a musical category unto himself. In the classic jazz genre, he is the originator of the Nouveau Swing style which merges acoustic swing with modern R&B, second-line, hip-hop, Mardi Gras Indian music (New Orleans African American roots culture), and reggae rhythms... ...

"Donald Harrison is one of the most confident and convincing improvisers in jazz today." —All About Jazz

"The satisfied audience’s screaming ovation says it all." —All About Jazz

"...one of the best jazz sax men playing today." —Smoothjazz.com

"...alto saxophonist Harrison has become a seasoned veteran and respected bandleader-talent scout..." —JazzTimes

"...altoist’s creativity is commanding." —All About Jazz

Joe Dyson
drums

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Mardi Gras Day

Eleven Music Experience
2023

buy

Witness To History

Smoke Sessions Records
2023

buy

Blues & Hues New...

Webberworks Entertainment Group
2021

buy

Shuffle and Deal

Smoke Sessions Records
2020

buy

Was Out Jazz Zone Mad

Ropeadope Records
2018

buy

Totem Pole

From: Witness To History
By Donald Harrison

Mardi Gras Day

From: Mardi Gras Day
By Donald Harrison

Twerk It

From: The Survivor
By Donald Harrison

Videos

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