Benny Harris
b. 24 April 1919, New York, USA, d. 11 February 1975, San Francisco, California, USA. Harris started playing trumpet with Tiny Bradshaw's band in 1939 and in the early '40s went on to play with the big bands of Earl Hines and Boyd Raeburn. He then settled to small group work in the famous club scene of New York's 52nd Street, playing with saxophonists Coleman Hawkins and Don Byas, among others. In 1944 he was the trumpeter on an early bop session led by pianist Clyde Hart. He is better remembered as a composer who contributed a number of pieces to the bop repertoire including Crazeology and Ornithology for which he combined Charlie Parker's solo on Jumpin Blues’ with the chords of How High The Moon.