RIP Barry Harris!

[16251]

What a legend!

 

Barry Lives!

 

rip - Mr. Harris

[16251]

[GovernorSilver]

Damn, should have gone to one of his workshops while he was still around

[zephonic]

I vividly remember his masterclasses at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He had demi-god status there.

 

Thanks for the knowledge, mr. Harris. Swing on in peace.

[Al Quinn]

RiP Barry Harris. Thank you for your amazing music and for generously sharing your incredible knowledge of jazz with so many.

[Docbop]

Damn, should have gone to one of his workshops while he was still around

 

 

One of the good things to come from the pandemic for me was Barry Harris started doing his workshops on Zoom so people anywhere could attend, I attend a couple of them. Hopefully those workshops were recorded and archived, I would gladly pay to be able to watch all of them.

[GovernorSilver]

Damn, should have gone to one of his workshops while he was still around

 

 

One of the good things to come from the pandemic for me was Barry Harris started doing his workshops on Zoom so people anywhere could attend, I attend a couple of them. Hopefully those workshops were recorded and archived, I would gladly pay to be able to watch all of them.

 

Yup that's where i also messed up - not attending the Zoom workshops

[uhoh7]

I was writing to a friend about Barry today when I heard this terrible news. Discovering Barry has been a huge inspriation for me and trying to decipher his thinking led me to the whole new Italian revival, which has me learning figured bass at age 64.

 

Barry you will live in muscians' hearts as long as black and white keys are pressed on this world. Maybe you will finally meet Bach. That will be a great cutting contest, old school

 

[video:youtube]

 

Barry was still living in Baroness Kathleen Annie Pannonica de Koenigswarter's brownstone, which he shared with Monk back in the day.

 

Thank you, Barry.

[Tusker]

What a giant. I met him only once at the Vanguard toward the end of 2019. Jimmy Cobb was part of the trio and was kind to introduce me after the show. Barry invited me to join the workshops (not sure if these were also on zoom, but they were definitely in person, twice a week). I kick myself for not going.

 

I got to say, it felt like a church meeting (in the best way). Barry didn't play the heads but he took solos. Thoughtful ones. A bunch of his students were lined up against the wall in the cheap seats and sang the melodies. After awhile the audience got the idea and sang along. It was pretty sublime. Just a beautiful sentiment that this elder statesman was a gift to be treasured. The buzz afterward between the students and the guests was all love. Nothing but love. RIP Mr. Harris.

[ProfD]

The world of Jazz piano has lost another true master. I totally dug the way he taught music. it. Another star in the sky. RIP Mr. Harris.

[16251]

NPR's reporting of the passing of Barry Harris

[Al Quinn]

Thanks for the NPR article. Barry's playing on the included Cannonball video is incredible! I was fortunate to see Barry play in Harlem a bunch of years ago.

 

I watched this lesson of Barry's today. I've watched it several times in the past. There's so much substance. Brilliant stuff! I love that it has 1.4 million views. When Barry speaks people want to hear what he has to say.

 

[video:youtube]

[16251]

Thanks for the NPR article. Barry's playing on the included Cannonball video is incredible!

 

Del Sasser written by Sam Jones; one of my all time favorite performances of Cannonball with Barry. BTW, the original video has a muffled piano sound. Some hero, took an audio recording of that Newport performance and spliced Barry's solo here, so we all can watch as well as listen to the genius of Barry Harris.

[16251]

A sad day anytime a Legend of his revered stature leaves this life. He's one of the last links to Bud Powell, Bird, Dizzy and Monk -- the founding fathers of Modern Jazz known as BeBop.

 

Roy Haynes, Sonny Rollins and Benny Golson are a handful that still remain. A side--the latter two are the only surviving members of the historic photo, "A Day in Harlem".

 

Living in LA most of my life, I've only seen Barry once. That was probably close to 30 years ago at a two piano concert at an auditorium in Hermosa Beach. The other pianist was the Great Kenny Barron, a longtime idol and influence.

 

They played alternating solo sets of maybe 30-40 minutes each and then did the usual duo piano thing (not a favorite context of mine) for maybe a half dozen tunes to close out the concert.

 

I remember what stood out for me was -- even though Kenny's chops were far superior to Barry, on a really deep musical level and connection to the roots of the music, Barry was more fun to listen to. I don't mean to imply Kenny's playing was superficial in any way but Barry's harmonic language and the way he played a standard like say "it could happen to you"....you felt so close to the source.

r

I went on Peter's NPR link and then followed another link to Marian McPartland's highly loved "Piano Jazz show", when Barry was a guest. I was listening to "it could happen to you", Duke's masterpiece "prelude to a kiss" and the rest of the show. In spite of a recent stroke and reduced facility, his melodic approach and the way he subtly moves his inner voices around was mesmerizing. I can hear the direct connection to the solo playing of Bud, Monk and Tatum. The fact that it's so close to the source and pretty much devoid of "chops"....I just love it.

 

It reminds so much of the few informal lessons I had with the great Jimmy Rowles. At that point in Rowles' life he probably couldn't have even executed a C Major scale cleanly. Didn't matter, the fact these people possess such deep knowledge about the music, have these experiences playing with historic figures, you can just feel all of that coming out in their playing. It gave me chills standing next to Jimmy and thinking...man he accompanied Lady Day. This was from a cherished era in Jazz, never to be experienced again.

 

I totally agree about the depth of Barry's playing. It's what keeps me practicing and enthusiastic at trying to master jazz piano. Even if I will always be miles away from really getting it like Barry or Kenny, the fact that you don't need superior chops to be relevant is my motivator. Of course Barry's chops are of course amazing. Sidebar: I'm only now listening and trying to understand Kenny Baron and Oscar for that matter.

[re Pete]

I've only seen Barry once. That was probably close to 30 years ago at a two piano concert at an auditorium in Hermosa Beach. The other pianist was the Great Kenny Barron, a longtime idol and influence.

 

They played alternating solo sets of maybe 30-40 minutes each and then did the usual duo piano thing (not a favorite context of mine) for maybe a half dozen tunes to close out the concert.

 

I heard him once also in a duo with Tommy Flanagan the same conditions at the Painted bride in Philly. It looked to be professionally recorded, but haven't seen it out.

Really interesting listening to them play and thanks for teaching us.

RIP

[Bobadohshe]

Luminescence was a pivotal record for me. My friend Adam Schroeder, the great bari player, showed it to me and it rocked my world at just the right time when I was diving into bebop piano with Bud Powell and of course Barry on this record, after my early years with jazz starting with Chick and Herbie. I've transcribed parts of his solos on this record. The title track is a contrafact on How High The Moon / Ornithology, and some really meaty piano soloing. And the arrangements! What a hip sound with tenor, bari, bone. Gonna spin it again today in his honor.

[Legatoboy]

RIP Barry... I talked to him at the Village Vanguard about 11 years back... approachable and energetic, good guy! My friend went to his last live show 2-3 weeks back at the Flushing Town Hall, I was going to go..

He opened for Kenny Barron and the Jazz Allstars there, Barry was not on the original bill... opted not to go for family reasons. Now he gets to hang with Bud and Monk ... he's lovin that!

[Docbop]

Ethen Iverson had a cool Tweet today with a Barry Harris listing list.

 

Ethan Iverson Barry Harris link...

[GovernorSilver]

There are plenty of Barry Harris videos on Youtube but this might be the only channel dedicated entirely to Barry's teachings. This episode starts with a nice statement about Barry

 

[video:youtube]

[Docbop]

There are plenty of Barry Harris videos on Youtube but this might be the only channel dedicated entirely to Barry's teachings. This episode starts with a nice statement about Barry

 

[video:youtube]

 

I've seen a few channels dedicated to Barry Harris teachings, but Chris Park's is the best. Chris is now teaching Barry Harris classes to pianists (and others) over at Open Studio Pro.

[uhoh7]

Here are a couple of Barry explainers I really enjoyed:

 

A series:

 

and Bill, a good teacher:

 

[video:youtube]

 

Like Chris, Issac was a "regular" at Barry's studio, and has many great videos:

[video:youtube]

 

On Barry's website are some nice materials.

 

What inspired me to try to learn an instrument was hearing Charlie Parker in 1978, by accident, while driving trucks in Alaska. I started with a clarinet. To my ears no keyboardist evokes Parker more clearly than Barry. Monk is there too but unlike many modern players, Monk influence is very subtle in Barry's playing. Parker knew nothing about "Dorian" and many aspects of "Jazz Theory" as taught at Berklee et al. Barry was a champion of historically informed Jazz theory, and he showed how it could turn "regular" people into performers, like Chris above.

 

There is also a great video about him on the website.