Happy Birthday Barry Harris!

[Brad]

Today is Barry Harris birthday, one of the top pianists in the post 50s era, keeping, as I've heard it said, the flame of bop alive.

So let's wish him a great birthday today!

[brownie]

Happy birthday, Barry Harris! Indeed...

He is 75 today.

It's also Curtis Fuller's birthday today. He turns 70.

Maybe the two have planned a jam session to celebrate B-)

[cannonball-addict]

Is he back in Detroit now. I figure some of our members might know.

Happy Birthday Barry Harris! Thanks for the music.

[jazzbo]

MANY MORE HAPPY RETURNS MR. HARRIS!

[AllenLowe]

I'm proud to say that I wrote the first profile on Barry ever to appear in Downbeat - sometime in the late 1970s. I was shocked that they'd never given him any real space - and I'm proud not because of anything special I did but because Barry was still struggling than, and it was about time he was recognized - he shows how, with feeling and study, bebop can still be a living musical language. He is one of the most profound pianists I've ever listened to -

[ghost of miles]

Just got AT THE JAZZ WORKSHOP in the mail a couple of days ago & will give it a spin tonight in honor of Mr. Harris.

[pryan]

Yeah, Barry Harris! Great pianist, he appears on STRAIGHT, NO CHASER (the movie about Monk) and does a great duet with Tommy Flanagan. Also appears on those Sonny Stitt early seventies albums and THE SIDEWINDER, among other sideman appearances.

Edited December 16, 2004 by pryan

[JamesJazz]

Barry will be in Detroit for his annual December concert (Dec 26 this year). He'll front a quartet with Donald Walden (ts), Marion Hayden (b) and James Robinson (d).

[stevebop]

Barry lives in Weehauken, NJ. When I called to wish him a Happy Birthday he was practicing at the piano, getting ready for his birthday celebration/gig at Swing46 in Manhattan. Enclosed is my play list from a two hour Birthday feature last Friday night:

8:03pm

FEATURE/Barry Harris (b. 12/15/1929);

Barry Harris: Parker's Mood, Live At Maybeck

Barry Harris: I Should Care, Preminando (Riverside)

Barry Harris: Body and Soul, Listen To Barry Harris (Riverside)

8:19pm

Barry Harris: Oblivion, The LastTime I Saw Paris (Venus Records)

Barry Harris: Webb City, Luminescence (Prestige)

Roni Ben-Hur with Barry Harris: Dance of the Infidels, Backyard (TCB Music)

8:41pm

Cannonball Adderley: Jeannine, Them Dirty Blues (Riverside)

Lee Morgan: Boy, What A Night, The Sidewinder (Blue Note)

Sonny Criss: Saturday Morning, Saturday Morning (Prevue/Xanadu)

9:04pm

Frank Morgan: Embraceable You, You Must Believe in Spring (Antilles)

Yusef Lateef: P Bouk, Into Sosmething (Prestige New Jazz)

Sonny Stitt: Casbah, End Game Brilliance (32 Jazz)

9:26pm

Barry Harris: Soultrane; If You Could See Me Now; Hot House,

Barry Harris Plays Tadd Dameron (Prevue/Xanadu)

9:45pm

Barry Harris: Monk Medley: Reflections, Light Blue, Well you Needn't, Rhythm-a-ning,

For the Moment (Uptown)

Barry Harris: 'Round Midnight, The Last Time I Saw Paris (Venus Music)

END OF FEATURE

[B. Goren.]

Happy Birthday Mr. Harris. Today I'll listen to you:

One of your best IMHO.

[mikeweil]

Bebop piano lives! Long live Barry Harris!!!!

[sidewinder]

He's just finished an engagement at London's Pizza Express. Too bad I couldn't get to see it, would have liked to see one of his gigs.

[AllenLowe]

I don't think anyone's mentioned it here, and I was reminded by "sidewinder," but Barry has said that he wrote the riff upon which Lee Morgan's big hit Sidewinder was based - and never got credit or any dough. I believe him as 1) Barry is not the kind of guy to brag about stuff he didn't do and 2) it actually sounds like one of his phrases; he's a great writer with a knack for catchy little riffs -