On romantic ballads his ear for harmonic color and the eloquent movement of one chord to another lent his performances the lyric glow of a Shelley ode. The essence of Harris's individuality was his storytelling expression, spontaneous flow of melody and harmony and the intensity of his swing. His codification of the bebop language stands apart from most of the trite attempts at jazz theory in the academic world, because it goes to the heart of what makes a melody.' 'He orchestrated his melodies and constructed his improvisations in a lyrical, unhurried and free-flowing manner. 'Barry was revered,' said Michael Weiss, one of the many pianists Harris mentored. His authority descended from a lifetime of bandstand 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 hippest chords to play on 'Indiana' and 'Embraceable You.'Īt a time when the traditional apprentice system all but collapsed in jazz, Harris represented a direct link to the pantheon. But he was more than a sterling soloist and keeper of the flame. Harris channeled the language and spirit of bebop's founding fathers - alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, pianists Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk - through his own foxy wit, vivid harmonic imagination and distinctive rhythmic rumble.

He led weekly workshops in New York, appeared in clubs and concert halls and traveled the world to teach and spread the gospel of bebop - the post-war style that became the lingua franca of the music. One of the leading musicians to emerge from Detroit's modern jazz explosion in the 1940s and '50s, Harris remained indefatigable into his early 90s. Harris would have turned 92 next week and taught his last class, via Zoom, on Nov. Harris had been hospitalized for the last two weeks and died of complications due to Covid, said Kira von Ostenfeld-Suske, who was part of a small support team of friends and students that helped Harris in recent years.

Jazz musician Barry Harris performing at the Henry Fonda Theatre in 2006.īarry Harris, a pianist who 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, N.J.

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