Barry Harris
b. 15 December 1929, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Harris started to play piano at a very early age and by his teens was well established in his home town, where he performed with Miles Davis, Sonny Stitt, Max Roach and other leading jazzmen. Strongly influenced by Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, Harris in his turn made an impact upon bebop pianists through his work in Detroit and in New York, where he relocated in the early '60s. Apart from stints with Cannonball Adderley, Dexter Gordon and other leading bebop artists, Harris was also a regular accompanist to Coleman Hawkins and established a reputation as a teacher. He has recorded extensively, both under his own name and with musicians such as Al Cohn, Sonny Criss, Sam Noto, Charles McPherson and Jimmy Heath. Since the early '80s he has been deeply involved in jazz education, running the Jazz Cultural Centre in New York, and is regarded as one of the finest teachers of bebop piano.