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PHOTO: BILLY HARPER (b. January 17, 1943)
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/billy-harper-mn0000083525/biography
BILLY HARPER
(b. January 17, 1943)
Artist Biography by Chris Kelsey
Billy Harper is one of a generation of Coltrane-influenced tenor saxophonists who actually built upon the master's work, rather than simply copy it. Harper is consummately well-rounded, able to play convincingly in any context, from bop to free. His muscular tone, lithe articulation, comprehensive harmonic knowledge, and unflagging energy define him as a saxophonist. He's also possessed of an abundant imagination that connects directly to his blues and gospel roots. Though not as well-known as he might be, Harper is a jazz improviser of significant stature. Harper grew up in Houston, TX. By the age of five he was singing in church and at various choral events. At age 11 he was given a saxophone for Christmas. In the beginning he was mostly self-taught, though he was helped along by his uncle Earl Harper, a former trumpeter who had gone to school with bop trumpeter Kenny Dorham. Dorham's 1950s work was a formative influence. In his teens Harper played in R&B bands, and at the age of 14 formed his own quartet. In the early '60s, Harper studied jazz at North Texas State University, where he became (at that time) the only African-American member of the school's prestigious One O'Clock Lab Band. Harper graduated from NTSU with a Bachelor of Music degree and also did post-graduate work. In 1966 Harper moved to New York. That year, he led an ensemble that was featured on an NBC-TV special, "The Big Apple." Within short time after arriving in New York, Harper started playing with well-known bandleaders. In 1967 he began a long-lasting association with bandleader/arranger Gil Evans. Harper has played with some of jazz's greatest drummers; he served with Blakey's Messengers for two years (1968-1970); he played very briefly with Elvin Jones (1970), and was a member of Max Roach's band in the late '70s. Harper also became a regular member of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band. In the '70s, Harper began recording under his own name for European labels. His album Black Saint (1975) was the first recording issued by the label of the same name; his In Europe (1979) inaugurated the Soul Note label. Harper recorded relatively infrequently in the '80s and '90s, although he maintained an active performing career, mostly as a leader. He's enjoyed a parallel career as a music educator, teaching at Livingston College and Rutgers. He's also received multiple grants from various arts agencies, including two from the National Endowment of the Arts. Harper's Black Saint LP was named Jazz Record of the Year -- Voice Grand Prix, by the Modern Jazz League of Tokyo.
BILLY HARPER
(b. January 17, 1943)
Artist Biography by Chris Kelsey
Billy Harper is one of a generation of Coltrane-influenced tenor saxophonists who actually built upon the master's work, rather than simply copy it. Harper is consummately well-rounded, able to play convincingly in any context, from bop to free. His muscular tone, lithe articulation, comprehensive harmonic knowledge, and unflagging energy define him as a saxophonist. He's also possessed of an abundant imagination that connects directly to his blues and gospel roots. Though not as well-known as he might be, Harper is a jazz improviser of significant stature. Harper grew up in Houston, TX. By the age of five he was singing in church and at various choral events. At age 11 he was given a saxophone for Christmas. In the beginning he was mostly self-taught, though he was helped along by his uncle Earl Harper, a former trumpeter who had gone to school with bop trumpeter Kenny Dorham. Dorham's 1950s work was a formative influence. In his teens Harper played in R&B bands, and at the age of 14 formed his own quartet. In the early '60s, Harper studied jazz at North Texas State University, where he became (at that time) the only African-American member of the school's prestigious One O'Clock Lab Band. Harper graduated from NTSU with a Bachelor of Music degree and also did post-graduate work. In 1966 Harper moved to New York. That year, he led an ensemble that was featured on an NBC-TV special, "The Big Apple." Within short time after arriving in New York, Harper started playing with well-known bandleaders. In 1967 he began a long-lasting association with bandleader/arranger Gil Evans. Harper has played with some of jazz's greatest drummers; he served with Blakey's Messengers for two years (1968-1970); he played very briefly with Elvin Jones (1970), and was a member of Max Roach's band in the late '70s. Harper also became a regular member of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band. In the '70s, Harper began recording under his own name for European labels. His album Black Saint (1975) was the first recording issued by the label of the same name; his In Europe (1979) inaugurated the Soul Note label. Harper recorded relatively infrequently in the '80s and '90s, although he maintained an active performing career, mostly as a leader. He's enjoyed a parallel career as a music educator, teaching at Livingston College and Rutgers. He's also received multiple grants from various arts agencies, including two from the National Endowment of the Arts. Harper's Black Saint LP was named Jazz Record of the Year -- Voice Grand Prix, by the Modern Jazz League of Tokyo.
http://www.jazz.com/encyclopedia/harper-billy-r
Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians
Harper, Billy
Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians
Harper, Billy
(b. January 17, 1943)
Harper, Billy, tenor saxophonist, composer, arranger, educator; born Houston, TX, 17 January 1943. His family is musical and he was also strongly influenced by growing up in the A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) church. His grandmother Pearl was married to a minister and was the "guiding light" of his life. Pearl (Nicknamed-"Peachie") raised him. His uncle Earl tried trumpet in high school in Austin, TX, alongside Kenny Dorham and got Billy interested in music. He was already singing "A tisket-a tasket" and other songs at the age of three. In 1948-1956 he began his singing career performing at sacred and secular functions. Around the age of 10 he became fascinated with the appearance of a saxophone that he saw in a music shop window each day as he came from school, and he received a Christmas gift of a tenor saxophone at age 11 from his biological mother, "Babysugar."
In high school he played in the marching band under Sammie Harris, alongside Michael Carvin and Michael Bolivar, and the band won a state championship. Another musical colleague was drummer Malcolm Pinson (they later performed together professionally). He learned about stagecraft from his drama and speech instructor, Vernell Lillie, and he found musical support in her husband, tenor saxophonist Richard (Dickie Boy) Lillie. He was working professionally in blues groups, and graduated cum laude in 1961 from Evan E. Worthing High School. From 1961-1965 he attended North Texas State University (now known as the University of North Texas), from where he go to Dallas and meet James Clay, Claude Johnson, David "Fathead" Newman, Louis Spears, Ted Dunbar, Roger Boykins "Shag", and "Worm" (an alto saxophonist).
Harper was the first black musician to perform in the famed NTSU "One o'clock" big band that was awarded first prize at the Kansas Jazz Festival. He received a Bachelor of Music degree in 1965 with a major in saxophone, and a minor in theory. Additional major in experimental program for students particularly interested in jazz. Formed and performed frequently with the Billy Harper Sextet.
Moved to New York City in 1966. He spent about a year unemployed, sitting in at Slug's and elsewhere, though he got one lucky break in 1966 in an NBC-TV documentary film, "The Big Apple" (featured newcomers: model, boxer, businessman, opera singer, and jazzman).
Then he met Gil Evans on Broadway and in six months began working with him. In 1967 he also began working with Art Blakey, including a tour to Japan in'68. In 1970 Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Harper, Harold Mabern, and dedicated listeners formed the "Jazz and People's Movement to protest the absence of jazz in TV and radio broadcasting.He and Lee Morgran were in the group that "interrupted " the Merv Griffin Show, and later succeeded at voicing their grievances on the Dick Cavett Show. He worked with Lee Morgan from 1969 until the trumpeter's murder in Feb. 1971.
During this period overall, he worked with Evans 8 yrs., Donald Byrd ('70-'71), Thad Jones-Mel Lewis big band ('71-'78, including a trip to Russia in 1972), Max Roach ('71'-'79), and Randy Weston (with whom he still performs from time to time,'72-present). However since 1979 he has worked most often as leader of his own quintet. He made trips to Japan with Max Roach ('73, '74, '76), Thad Jones ('74), Gil Evans ('72), Billy Harper Quintet ('79), and five other times with All Star groups (1984, 85, and others). With his quintet, he has also toured Western Europe; Portugal; Istanbul, Turkey, Poland, Rumania, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Israel, Taiwan, South America, Japan, Phillipines, Kaoshung, Taiwan, Norway, Finland, France, Italy, Leipzig, Germany, and others.
He is very active as an educator. In 1972 he received a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Arts to teach improvisation at 15 high schools. In 1975 he taught saxophone and flute at Livingston College, Rutgers University. From 1992 to the present he has taught at the New School jazz program, and since 1993 he has presented lectures and master classes at educational institutions around the world.
Awards and Honors:
2002 Grant for composition by the Chamber Music America's New Works Creation and Presentation Program, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
2001 Commissioned to create the music for a play, "Whispers Want to Holler" for the Kuntu Repertory Theater, University of Pittsburgh
2000 Judge at Brilliant Note International Saxophone Competition (classical and jazz) in Staicele, Latvia and performed concert in Riga, Latvia with Latvian quintet (Jul. 28 - Aug. 11)
1996 Birth of the Billy Harper Fan Club on April 17, 1996
1994 Jazz Magazine in Japan awarded top honors to Harper's CD "Somalia"
1992 Saturday, September 19, 1992 declared "Billy Harper Day" in Houston, Texas by the Mayor of the City of Houston, Robert Lanier.
1988 Cultural Attache to Kishiwada, Japan, appointed by Mayor Noboru Hara
1984 Panelist - National Endowment for the Arts Grants Awards Program
1976 Jazz Record of the Year "Voice Grand Prix" award from Modern Jazz League of Tokyo for the album Black Saint
1975 Swing Journal International Critics Award - Tenor Saxophone
1974 Down Beat International Critics Award - Tenor Saxophone
1974 Music Composition Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
1973 Music Composition Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
1970 Music Composition Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
ca. 1974 Award for composition
1964 Scholarship to attend Berklee School of Music (but he chose to attend North Texas instead)
1964 "Most Promising Saxophonist"-Notre Dame Jazz Festival, performed with the Billy Harper Sextet
Recordings:
Harper, Billy, tenor saxophonist, composer, arranger, educator; born Houston, TX, 17 January 1943. His family is musical and he was also strongly influenced by growing up in the A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) church. His grandmother Pearl was married to a minister and was the "guiding light" of his life. Pearl (Nicknamed-"Peachie") raised him. His uncle Earl tried trumpet in high school in Austin, TX, alongside Kenny Dorham and got Billy interested in music. He was already singing "A tisket-a tasket" and other songs at the age of three. In 1948-1956 he began his singing career performing at sacred and secular functions. Around the age of 10 he became fascinated with the appearance of a saxophone that he saw in a music shop window each day as he came from school, and he received a Christmas gift of a tenor saxophone at age 11 from his biological mother, "Babysugar."
In high school he played in the marching band under Sammie Harris, alongside Michael Carvin and Michael Bolivar, and the band won a state championship. Another musical colleague was drummer Malcolm Pinson (they later performed together professionally). He learned about stagecraft from his drama and speech instructor, Vernell Lillie, and he found musical support in her husband, tenor saxophonist Richard (Dickie Boy) Lillie. He was working professionally in blues groups, and graduated cum laude in 1961 from Evan E. Worthing High School. From 1961-1965 he attended North Texas State University (now known as the University of North Texas), from where he go to Dallas and meet James Clay, Claude Johnson, David "Fathead" Newman, Louis Spears, Ted Dunbar, Roger Boykins "Shag", and "Worm" (an alto saxophonist).
Harper was the first black musician to perform in the famed NTSU "One o'clock" big band that was awarded first prize at the Kansas Jazz Festival. He received a Bachelor of Music degree in 1965 with a major in saxophone, and a minor in theory. Additional major in experimental program for students particularly interested in jazz. Formed and performed frequently with the Billy Harper Sextet.
Moved to New York City in 1966. He spent about a year unemployed, sitting in at Slug's and elsewhere, though he got one lucky break in 1966 in an NBC-TV documentary film, "The Big Apple" (featured newcomers: model, boxer, businessman, opera singer, and jazzman).
Then he met Gil Evans on Broadway and in six months began working with him. In 1967 he also began working with Art Blakey, including a tour to Japan in'68. In 1970 Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Harper, Harold Mabern, and dedicated listeners formed the "Jazz and People's Movement to protest the absence of jazz in TV and radio broadcasting.He and Lee Morgran were in the group that "interrupted " the Merv Griffin Show, and later succeeded at voicing their grievances on the Dick Cavett Show. He worked with Lee Morgan from 1969 until the trumpeter's murder in Feb. 1971.
During this period overall, he worked with Evans 8 yrs., Donald Byrd ('70-'71), Thad Jones-Mel Lewis big band ('71-'78, including a trip to Russia in 1972), Max Roach ('71'-'79), and Randy Weston (with whom he still performs from time to time,'72-present). However since 1979 he has worked most often as leader of his own quintet. He made trips to Japan with Max Roach ('73, '74, '76), Thad Jones ('74), Gil Evans ('72), Billy Harper Quintet ('79), and five other times with All Star groups (1984, 85, and others). With his quintet, he has also toured Western Europe; Portugal; Istanbul, Turkey, Poland, Rumania, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Israel, Taiwan, South America, Japan, Phillipines, Kaoshung, Taiwan, Norway, Finland, France, Italy, Leipzig, Germany, and others.
He is very active as an educator. In 1972 he received a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Arts to teach improvisation at 15 high schools. In 1975 he taught saxophone and flute at Livingston College, Rutgers University. From 1992 to the present he has taught at the New School jazz program, and since 1993 he has presented lectures and master classes at educational institutions around the world.
Awards and Honors:
2002 Grant for composition by the Chamber Music America's New Works Creation and Presentation Program, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
2001 Commissioned to create the music for a play, "Whispers Want to Holler" for the Kuntu Repertory Theater, University of Pittsburgh
2000 Judge at Brilliant Note International Saxophone Competition (classical and jazz) in Staicele, Latvia and performed concert in Riga, Latvia with Latvian quintet (Jul. 28 - Aug. 11)
1996 Birth of the Billy Harper Fan Club on April 17, 1996
1994 Jazz Magazine in Japan awarded top honors to Harper's CD "Somalia"
1992 Saturday, September 19, 1992 declared "Billy Harper Day" in Houston, Texas by the Mayor of the City of Houston, Robert Lanier.
1988 Cultural Attache to Kishiwada, Japan, appointed by Mayor Noboru Hara
1984 Panelist - National Endowment for the Arts Grants Awards Program
1976 Jazz Record of the Year "Voice Grand Prix" award from Modern Jazz League of Tokyo for the album Black Saint
1975 Swing Journal International Critics Award - Tenor Saxophone
1974 Down Beat International Critics Award - Tenor Saxophone
1974 Music Composition Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
1973 Music Composition Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
1970 Music Composition Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
ca. 1974 Award for composition
1964 Scholarship to attend Berklee School of Music (but he chose to attend North Texas instead)
1964 "Most Promising Saxophonist"-Notre Dame Jazz Festival, performed with the Billy Harper Sextet
Recordings:
Capra Black (1973); Black Saint (1975); Love on the Sudan (1977); Soran Bushi-B.H. (1977); Knowledge of Self (1978); Billy Harper Quintet in Europe (1979); The Awakening (1979); Trying to Make Heaven My Home (1979); The Believer (1980); Billy Harper Quintet en Plogne (1980); Destiny Is Yours (1989); Billy Harper Quintet Live on Tour in the Far East (Seoul, Korea) Vol. 1 (1991); Billy Harper Quintet Live on Tour in the Far East (Kaohsiung, Taiwan) Vol. 2 (1991); Billy Harper Quintet Live on Tour in the Far East (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) Vol. 3 (1995); Somalia (1995); If Our Hearts Could Only See (1997); Soul Of An Angel (2000)
As sideperson:
Randy Weston: Randy (1973), Carnival (1974), Spirit of Our Ancestors (1992), Saga (1995); McCoy Tyner: Journey (1994); Mark Masters Jazz Orchestra: Priestess (1992); All Stars: The New York Saxophone Madness, Such Great Friends (1983), Great Friends (1986); Max Roach: Lift Every Voice and Sing (1971), Live in Tokyo, Vol. 1 & 2 (1977), Nommo (1977), The Loadster (1977), Live in Amsterdam (1977), Confirmation (1978); Joe Bonner: Angel Eyes (1974-76); Gil Evans: Blues in Orbit (1969-71), Ampex (1971), Kimiko Kasai with Gil Evans Orchestra: Satin Doll (1972), Masabumi Kikuchi with Gil Evans (1972), Blue Fish (1973), Svengali (1973), Gil Evans Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix (1974), Festival de Montreux (1974), There Comes a Time (1975); Thad Jones: Consummation (1970), Suitie for Pops (1972); Thad Jones/Mel Lewis/Manuel de Sica: Portuguese Soul (1973); Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band: Potpourri (1974); Jon Faddis and Billy Harper: Jon and Billy (1974); Robin Kenyatta: Stompin' at the Savoy (1973); Horacee Arnold: Tribe (1973); Lee Morgan: Trip (1970), A Date with Lee (1970), Lee Morgan (1971), We Remember You (1972); Bobby Humphrey: Flute In (1972); Charles Earland: Charles III (1972); Louis Armstrong and His Friends: This Black Cat (1970); Jimmy Owens (1970); Leon Thomas (1970); Art Blakey: Live at Slugg's (1968); Woody Shaw: Love Dance; Piotr Wojtasik: Quest (1996); Malachi Thompson: Jaaz (1996), 47th Street (1997); Barney McAll: Widening Circles (1998)
Radio and television broadcasts:
2003 Billy Harper Quintet - Israeli TV, Tel-Aviv Jazz Festival
2000 Billy Harper Quintet - Polish TV interview and performance at Blue Note Club in Poznan, Poland (Oct.9)
2000 Billy Harper Quintet - Polish TV interview and performance - Szczecin, Poland (Oct. 9)
1975 TV and radio appearances in Norway, Finland, Holland, Belgium, Denmark,Sweden, France and Italy
1966 Highlighted in N BC TV Special (documentary), "Big Apple" with Elvin Jones, Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner and Reggie Workman.
TV performances in Norway, Finland with Max Roach, and later with the Billy Harper Quintet
Billy Harper Quintet on TV in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Chile; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Yugoslavia
TV tape of a tour with Art Blakey that includes Harper with Blakey, and separately features Elvin, Max, and Sonny Murray.
Bibliography:
2001 Interview in Jazz Times: America's Jazz Magazine (September)
1997 Featured article in Jazz Forum Magazine - Poland (March)
1996 Interview in Downbeat Magazine
Contact information:
Billy Harper Fan Club: (410) 467-4328
PO. Box 4539; Baltimore, Md. 21212
Inquiries: Explorejaz@aol.com
Website: www.Billyharper.com
Billy Harper: A Life of Persistence and Improvisation
by R.J. DELUKE
November 19, 2014
All About Jazz
On stage, Billy Harper puts his lips to the tenor saxophone, stands relatively erect and sings through his horn; a strong, angular, muscular sound. There little physical gesticulation, belying the effort it takes to express feelings and emotions through the instrument. But Harper's creative statements demand attention.
Over the last few years, a lot of that energy is expressed on stage with the Cookers, a star-studded septet that has been burning up the scene, gaining fans and critical acclaim. Harper is blowing his best among comrades Billy Hart, Eddie Henderson, George Cables, Cecil McBee, Donald Harrison and David Weiss, stellar players and old friends. He also is a prolific composer, an educator and has led his own bands over the years, as well as performed with Gil Evans, Max Roach, Lee Morgan, Charles Tolliver, Randy Weston, the Thad Jones and Mel Lewis big band, Art Blakey and others.
It's a career where Harper, a born musician who started singing while in diapers, has shown remarkable persistence. A self-taught saxophonist in the beginning, he honed his chops so well that he eventually entered the prestigious music program at North Texas State University. But it was during a time of segregation and there were tough things to deal with. Harper persevered. He won out.
"I got into jazz completely, which meant improvisation, which was the way I learned to live," says Harper, a congenial sort who's thoughtful and forthright. "Improvising all the time. It was not just music. It was the way. That is my life. It might be a funny thing to say, but I feel like I am the music. I don't mean I'm the only music, but I am music. That's how much it is a part of me, or I'm a part of it. I really feel like the music. I think that other musicians who are playing represent the music. They are the music also... Whenever writers say sometimes, 'jazz is dead.' I think that's a conspiracy or something. As long as it's in the musicians, the music is there. It's where I live."
Harper, 71, who released his first album Capra Black in 1973 (Strata East), also leads his own quartet and is working on the release of a DVD that will feature his sextet performing with 60 voices. Using voices is a natural progression for someone who came up in the Houston area singing in the church and thought he would be a singer or an actor before the saxophone pulled on his coat.
The Cookers have four albums out and this year's Time and Time Again (Motema) is outstanding. The band is tight, the writing strong (three songs by Harper) and the soloists bright and expressive—as they have all been throughout their careers.
"It's great. Everybody's played together at one time or another," Harper says. "Everybody has their own group. Among those guys, they've either played with Freddie Hubbard or Lee Morgan. So we're kind of connected from a long way back." Henderson played with Harper for eight years gong back to the '70s. "So we've got a close connection. When I first got to New York, I was trying to get Billy Hart to play in my band. He was there for a second until Stan Getz paid him. [chuckles] He could pay some real money."
"That's probably one of the reasons the group works so well," he said of the dynamic group feel of the band. "We also know the history in the same way. Many of the young guys don't know the history of getting a sound and a purpose. Power. When I say that, I mean I played with Art Blakey. Eddie played with Art Blakey too. I played with Elvin Jones. The best drummers. Everybody in the band played with somebody like that. Like Herbie Hancock. George Cables was on my first record. Also, we played together with Blakey too... It's working out."
Harper has been a major voice on the saxophone for decades, but the singing thing—that was first.
"When I was crawling, my uncle said I was trying to sing something from Ella Fitzgerald, from the radio. 'A Tisket, A Tasket' or something. I was singing that before walking. Then they were always getting me to sing in church. I was pushed on stage to sing. That was going to be my main thing. When I was there, my grandmother was married to the minister. So I was there all the time. I heard all these great choruses. Wow. I heard people who were singing like Aretha Franklin. Really good singers. At that time, it would be a sin to change the way they were singing to do something commercial. But they were just as great as Aretha. And I was in the middle of all that. I was little, but hearing it all and taking it all in without realizing it. That was quite an experience. In fact, I would think it would be the thing that led me to my style of singing and playing."
Walking home from school, Harper used to pause in front of an instrument shop and gaze into the window. He didn't know what the gold-tinged horns were, but they captured his imagination. One, the trumpet, only had three valves. The one that held more mystique was the curved one with many more accoutrements. "I wanted to play that. What I wanted for Christmas from that time on was a saxophone," laughs Harper. "And a horse... No, I didn't get the horse."
When he got his hands on the sax, Harper taught himself. He would listen to records with an uncle who was a fan. Again, there was a vocal aspect. "He loved to put the words in solos and things like that," says Harper. "I learned a lot of that jazz stuff and concepts from starting with him at a very young age. I learned to hear really well at that age. I was playing stuff by Sonny Rollins, Horace Silver and finally John Coltrane... One of the strongest guys to start with was Sonny Rollins. Then Kenny Dorham with Max Roach and with Horace Silver. Then Coltrane. I was in good company."
As he progressed, Harper was playing the blues and working and making money at the age of 16. Jamming in high school made him better and better. But he knew it was a long road. "There was a terror down there by the name of Don Wilkerson," he recalls. "He did a record called 'Texas Tornado' or something [Texas Twister, Riverside, 1960]. Everybody was afraid to sit in with him. But I was only in high school I heard him and my goodness. A whirlwind."
"But the time I got to college I met James Clay}," he says. Clay was a hot tenor player who, during his unsung career had some good records, but also recorded with the likes of Don Cherry and Wes Montgomery, played with Ray Charles, Billy Higgins, Red Mitchell and others. "That was my mentor, along with Richard Lily in Houston, whose wife was my drama instructor. For a while I thought I was going to sing and act. Pretty soon I got more into the horn."
After high school, a friend told him about the outstanding music program at North Texas State University and Harper was game to give it a try.
"But when I got there, things were still segregated. There were 10,000 students and 100 blacks at the time. So the living quarters, dorms, were not open to black guys. The ladies had started integrating the dorms. While I was there, we went through all the demonstrations, sitting in and all that stuff. They finally moved us into apartments on the campus," says Harper.
And there were times of trouble.
"There was a Confederate fraternity. Whew. I remember. A lot of times, friends of mine would get beat up when they'd come from Dallas late at night. We went through that stuff," he recalls. But such was his focus, his persistence, that he did not let the distractions interfere with his studies. "I was totally into the music. So the other stuff was happening. It was going to happen. So let's get to it [the music]. Although I remember one night sleeping and a big bright light was all around the apartment. I came out to the door and there was a cross burning across the street... Yeah. I didn't forget that place. It had good and bad."
He says the musicians at the school were cool. Many were from the north and some of them had already played in big bands like Woody Herman and Stan Kenton. Harper played in the school's big band and flourished, earning his degree. "Then I was playing professionally in Dallas with James Clay and some guys. I decided one day, it's time to get to New York. That was the place I was aiming for without realizing it. Everybody I was listening to was from New York. The records from Blue Note, RCA. All those companies were in New York. I wasn't interested in recording. I just had to get to New York to be around that music. That was my main thing. That was the goal. Then after a while, I was all over the world. Hardly in New York."
He got there in 1966 and found the going rough at first.
"When I first got to New York, it seemed like something really bad happened, then something really good. The first thing that happened is I borrowed $100 from a friend to get to New York. I just had $100, and I stayed in a hotel the first night. That took almost all the money. I had a little money left over and I put it in my [sax] case. I'm looking for another place that's cheaper. I happened to accidentally drive by Third Avenue and Eighth Street and saw that Thelonious Monk was playing there," says the saxman/raconteur. "I had to go check him out, just for a little while. When I came out, I saw McCoy Tyner was playing right across the street. I ran across the street to see him. I saw Cedar Walton in there. I got to hear McCoy and ran back downstairs to check the car and all my stuff was gone. My second night in New York."
Harper laughs pleasantly as he thinks back. "And I didn't know anybody. That's the way I started... It went like that for a while. It certainly made me stronger and more focused. I had to get away from those material things. I didn't know it was, in a way, an advantage. Because I felt so terrible all my stuff was gone. I was really tied to that stuff, so it was good to get untied."
One of the first good things was meeting Gil Evans, by happenstance, on Broadway. "He was nice. He was like a floating spirit. You see the records, like out of the Cool and he had a suit on and stuff. Well, he never wore a suit. [laughs] He was always in jeans. Just a down-home guy. Friendly. Just soul. So I told Gil, 'If you ever need a saxophone for anything, give me a call.' Six months went by. I wasn't expecting to hear from him. I was pretty despondent by them, lying across the bed. I was thinking, 'What am I going to do here?' And the phone rings and it's Gil. He said, 'I got a rehearsal.' I made that and the rest is history."
Before the Gil Evans gig, however, there was some baptism by fire. "It wasn't easy," he says with humor, not complaining. "It was a struggle. Most of the guys that were playing at the clubs didn't necessarily want new people there, trying to take over their jobs. I had a hard time."
The young Harper went into Slug's nightclub one night to meet Elvin Jones. "I was just a little square guy. I said, 'Mr. Jones, I'm Billy Harper from Texas and I'd like to sit in with you.' He said, 'Noooo.' [chuckles] Like he was going to jump on me or something. [chuckles] OK, OK. I came from Texas, man. People were kind if you could play. Friendly. He was all this nasty stuff. I later realized he was drunk much of the time, when he couldn't get the drugs... We became buddies later. So I came the second night and he said the same thing. But I knew I could play. After North Texas State bands and playing with Clay, I knew I could play. There wasn't even a doubt. I was bold enough to ask the same thing the next night."
Harper went in the next two nights and was also turned down, but not as vehemently. He heard about a rehearsal the drummer was holding and showed up. He helped Jones carry the drums in and out of the hall. But the next night at Slug's, he was put off. Persistent? The following night, Harper walked in and didn't bother to ask. He sat down. At the third set, he was called to the stage.
"When I got up to play though, Elvin jumped off the drums and Philly Joe Jones jumped on. They started playing a fast tune. You know, the Philly Joe. The cocky Philly Joe. I didn't know what they were going to do. Hank Mobley was working with him at the time. He took his solo and he finished, and it's time for mine. Philly Joe was still playing and all of a sudden he hit the snare drum and stopped everybody. Right when I'm starting to play. He put his elbow on the snare drum and looked at me. Just looked. All the music stopped except me," says Harper, laughing at the memory.
"I didn't know what to do. I just kept playing. That's all I knew. I started to play, so I'm going to play. I closed my eyes and was into my own thing and just kept playing, just like I was performing. The way I would play if they were playing with me. Pretty soon the people started clapping. Philly had to come in. So the band came in and they were screaming. It was like everybody planned a trick for me or something. But the audience didn't know. That's the way I met Elvin and Philly. When I finished playing, Philly said, 'Man, you can play, but you play so long.' [chuckles] And he's the one who caused the whole thing."
It was an incident that other musicians started hearing about, which helped get Harper's name around. Another was a stroke of good fortune when he became part of an NBC television special called "The Big Apple."
"It was about a few people's first experience in New York. I was one. Because Kenny Dorham told them about me, so they got me as the jazz musician. There was the boxer, Jerry Quarry. He had a section. There was a business person, an opera singer, a model and a jazz musician. I was the one. So I was on television. They were filming how I would try to sit in. Life with me. I thought it was a big thing at the time. I had been trying to survive and sometimes I had to eat sandwiches with cheese, no meat."
They were filing segments of his life around the city and wanted some footage from the Village Vanguard. "But the Vanguard wouldn't even let them in to film. It would have been good for the Vanguard to have that. So they said, 'OK. why don't you put your own band together? We'll let you film it.' So, I was smart enough to think: OK, I'll do that. I got Elvin on drums, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, McCoy Tyner on piano, Reggie Workman on bass. So when we played, that was seen all over the place. Certainly all over New York. I think Miles and some other people must have seen that too. Then, in a small way, I kind of made it. But also word had spread with that thing with Philly Joe and Elvin at the club. Everything happened from there."
There was a call from Blakey. Work with Evans. And soon he was working with the first-rate Thad Jones/Mel Lewis band.
"Things tied together real nice. And Max Roach heard me playing with Thad Jones and Mel Lewis. So he hired me. Nobody was necessarily working constantly. So I was working with maybe four of those bands at the same time. Gil hadn't gone to Europe yet. If Blakey was not doing something, maybe Thad Jones was doing something. Nothing clashed too much. Pretty soon Gil was going to Europe, so I went with him. And I was working with Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan. A lot of stuff happening."
The
Texan was now playing with many of the people he'd listened to on
records in Houston. His own recording career developed and he led his
own bands. All of the sitting in, taking some lumps, improving, and
climbing up the ladder paid off. It shows in his playing. And it
something not always found in younger players, who don't see
opportunities to mentor with big bands, or with jazz veterans.
"Now you have a lot of the young guys playing. They play well, but that connection to the soul of the music that the Cookers have is not there," says Harper. "They're more academic. Or experimental. That's what if feels like to me."
Harper also taught at Rutgers University in New Jersey for a time and these days does some teaching at the New School in New York City. But performing is what he prefers. In addition to the Cookers, he leads a group consisting of Freddie Hendrix on trumpet, Francesca Tanksley on piano, Aaron Scott on drums and Clarence Seay on bass. "When we get together it works, it just gels. Just like the Cookers."
He also works in a duo with Randy Weston. They released The Roots of the Blues (Sunnyside) in 2013. But his next big individual project is the DVD with voices.
"We did it in New York at St. Peters Church, December, 31, 2012. It came out great," he says. It's not the first project with voices. A few years back, he did one with a Polish choir [Billy Harper In Concert: Live from Poland Arkadia, 2007]. "That was the first idea. I've done it Pittsburgh, New York and will probably do this abroad too. The only way to be able to do it is to use the choir from that location. Somebody called me from Portugal. So if we do that, then we'll use their choir... I also have a small vocal group and we scat. So the scatting group does the first thing. Then my group. Then the 60 voices. More voices are added to the scatters and we do my stuff with the 60 voices. The scatters do some bebop stuff also, other than just my stuff. Something by Monk, something by Freddie Hubbard, then mostly my stuff."
So persistence has paid off. Lovers of Harper's sound—warm, welcoming and dashing all at once—are glad.
"Now you have a lot of the young guys playing. They play well, but that connection to the soul of the music that the Cookers have is not there," says Harper. "They're more academic. Or experimental. That's what if feels like to me."
Harper also taught at Rutgers University in New Jersey for a time and these days does some teaching at the New School in New York City. But performing is what he prefers. In addition to the Cookers, he leads a group consisting of Freddie Hendrix on trumpet, Francesca Tanksley on piano, Aaron Scott on drums and Clarence Seay on bass. "When we get together it works, it just gels. Just like the Cookers."
He also works in a duo with Randy Weston. They released The Roots of the Blues (Sunnyside) in 2013. But his next big individual project is the DVD with voices.
"We did it in New York at St. Peters Church, December, 31, 2012. It came out great," he says. It's not the first project with voices. A few years back, he did one with a Polish choir [Billy Harper In Concert: Live from Poland Arkadia, 2007]. "That was the first idea. I've done it Pittsburgh, New York and will probably do this abroad too. The only way to be able to do it is to use the choir from that location. Somebody called me from Portugal. So if we do that, then we'll use their choir... I also have a small vocal group and we scat. So the scatting group does the first thing. Then my group. Then the 60 voices. More voices are added to the scatters and we do my stuff with the 60 voices. The scatters do some bebop stuff also, other than just my stuff. Something by Monk, something by Freddie Hubbard, then mostly my stuff."
So persistence has paid off. Lovers of Harper's sound—warm, welcoming and dashing all at once—are glad.
http://weaa.org/post/black-saint-billy-harper-plays
"The Black Saint" Billy Harper Plays On
by Marcellus Shepard
January 7, 2015
WEAA
January 7, 2015
WEAA
Billy Harper
Jazz Master of the Month
January, 2015
Saxophonist Billy Harper, aka “The Black Saint,” was born in Houston on January 17, 1943. He was already singing in spiritual ensembles at age five and formed his first Billy Harper Quintet in his last years of high school, He went on to graduate cum laude from North Texas State University with a Bachelor of Music degree.
As most musicians who pursue jazz, Harper moved to New York City in 1966 seeking greater exposure and immediately began attracting the attention of jazz greats such as Gil Evans, Max Roach, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey and others. He immediately began touring in some degree with each of these groups from 1966 to 1979 while also organizing and performing with his own Billy Harper Quintet.
The Billy Harper Quintet performed on the NBC Special The Big Apple, where his big tenor sound and spiritual solos gained even wider exposure.
Harper taught at Livingston College, Rutgers University, and The New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music.
One group of accomplished musicians commented that hearing [Harper] play was like hearing the voice of God.
Harper’s album The Black Saint in 1976 was named Jazz Album of the Year by the Modern Jazz League of Tokyo, which further increased his worldwide recognition as a serious innovator on tenor saxophone. His 1973 recording of “Capra Black” was one of the premier recordings during the black consciousness movement days. It, as well as other landmark recordings, endeared him to the serious jazz community in much the same way as did John Coltrane.
Harper has recorded more than 15 albums as a leader and more than 50 as a sideman.
His DVD release Billy Harper: Live from Poland (performed in a cathedral with full choir and jazz quintet) is still considered one of the most spiritually inspiring viewing and listening experiences ever recorded.
After hearing him perform with Max Roach in Philadelphia’s Aqua Lounge, one group of accomplished musicians commented that hearing him play was like “hearing the voice of God.”
Billy Harper still travels the world extensively and performs in Baltimore on occasion with his band as well as other ensembles.
http://coas.howard.edu/music/huje/BillyHarper.pdf
http://www.thecookersmusic.com/about/billy-harper/
Billy Harper
Billy Harper’s unique music creativity was first noted in Houston, Texas, where, at age 5, he was singing at sacred and secular functions and participating in choral and solo singing events. By age 14, he formed his first Billy Harper Quintet while a student at Evan E. Worthing High School. Graduating cum laude, he went on to study saxophone and music theory at North Texas State University and received his Bachelor of Music degree. He continued graduate studies at NTSU and became a member of their famed One O’clock Big Band.”
Harper moved to New York in 1966 and soon began attracting attention from some of jazzdom’s giants such as Gil Evans, Max Roach, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Lee Morgan and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He performed, recorded and toured Europe, Japan, Africa and throughout the United States from 1966 to 1979 with these groups, as well as his own Billy Harper Quintet.
In 1966, The Billy Harper Quintet began receiving notoriety of its own when his ensemble was highlighted on the NBC-TV special, “The Big Apple.” With more exposure came bigger audiences and bigger demands for appearances.
Throughout Harper’s career, there has been a pattern of spiritual growth and innovation. “My feeling is that music should have a purpose. In the past, it always has been used for healing and uplifting and meditation. And that’s the way I see my music” said Harper, “I’ve had people come up after a program to tell me that they felt a spiritual healing from the music. When that happens, I feel we’re fulfilling what we’re supposed to do. If people are entertained, that’s ok too but I certainly see a purpose in my music beyond that.”
As a teacher and lecturer, Harper has taught at Livingston College, Rutgers University, and The New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music. He has also received a special grant from the New Jersey State Council for the Arts to teach improvisation at 15 different high schools. Awards and honors include three Music Composition Grants; two from the National Endowment of the Arts, and one from the Creative Arts Program. He also received the International Critics Award for Best Tenor Saxophone for two years consecutively.
As a recording artist, Billy Harper’s album, Black Saint exploded on the international jazz scene in 1976. The reviews all applauded his innovations and prompted the Modern Jazz League of Tokyo to name the album, “Jazz Record of the Year – Voice Grand Prix.”
"The Awakening" by Billy Harper
(Composition and arrangements by Billy Harper)
BILLY HARPER QUINTET + 50 VOICE CHOIR
LIVE IN POLAND
Recorded on 2004 and released 2007
From this DVD:
Billy Harper (born January 17, 1943, in Houston, Texas) is an American jazz saxophonist, "one of a generation of Coltrane-influenced tenor saxophonists" with a distinctively stern, hard-as-nails sound on his instrument.[1]
Harper has played with some of jazz's greatest drummers; he served with Art Blakey's Messengers for two years (1968–70); he played very briefly with Elvin Jones (1970), he played with the Thad Jones/ Mel Lewis Orchestra in the 1970s, and was a member of Max Roach's band in the late 1970s.[1] He has also been a frequent member of Randy Weston's ensembles, and in 2013 they recorded their first album as a duo, entitled The Roots of the Blues.[3] Harper performed on Gil Evans' 1973 album Svengali, and contributed two of the most-performed tunes in the band's repertoire: "Priestess" and "Thoroughbred".
Harper's 1973 album Capra Black "remains one of the seminal recordings of jazz's black consciousness movement--a profoundly spiritual effort that channels both the intellectual complexity of the avant garde as well as the emotional potency of gospel".[4] The Italian jazz label Black Saint was launched with Harper's 1975 album Black Saint. His later releases have mostly been on SteepleChase and Evidence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Harper
Billy Harper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Billy Harper | |
|---|---|
Billy Harper performing at the Jazz Standard in 2007
|
|
| Background information | |
| Born | January 17, 1943 Houston, Texas |
| Instruments | Saxophone, flute |
| Labels | Black Saint, Strata-East, SteepleChase, Evidence |
Billy Harper (born January 17, 1943, in Houston, Texas) is an American jazz saxophonist, "one of a generation of Coltrane-influenced tenor saxophonists" with a distinctively stern, hard-as-nails sound on his instrument.[1]
Contents
Biography
In 1965 Harper earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Texas.[2]Harper has played with some of jazz's greatest drummers; he served with Art Blakey's Messengers for two years (1968–70); he played very briefly with Elvin Jones (1970), he played with the Thad Jones/ Mel Lewis Orchestra in the 1970s, and was a member of Max Roach's band in the late 1970s.[1] He has also been a frequent member of Randy Weston's ensembles, and in 2013 they recorded their first album as a duo, entitled The Roots of the Blues.[3] Harper performed on Gil Evans' 1973 album Svengali, and contributed two of the most-performed tunes in the band's repertoire: "Priestess" and "Thoroughbred".
Harper's 1973 album Capra Black "remains one of the seminal recordings of jazz's black consciousness movement--a profoundly spiritual effort that channels both the intellectual complexity of the avant garde as well as the emotional potency of gospel".[4] The Italian jazz label Black Saint was launched with Harper's 1975 album Black Saint. His later releases have mostly been on SteepleChase and Evidence.
Discography
As leader/co-leader
- 1973: Capra Black (Strata East)
- 1974: Jon & Billy (Trio) with Jon Faddis
- 1975: Black Saint (Black Saint)
- 1977: Love on the Sudan (Denon)
- 1977: Soran-Bushi, B.H. (Denon)
- 1979: Knowledge of Self (Denon)
- 1979: Trying to Make Heaven My Home (MPS)
- 1979: Billy Harper Quintet in Europe (Soul Note)
- 1979: The Awakening (Marge)
- 1980: The Believer (Baystate)
- 1989: Destiny Is Yours (Steeplechase)
- 1991: Live on Tour in the Far East (Steeplechase)
- 1991: Live on Tour in the Far East Vol. 2 (Steeplechase)
- 1991: Live on Tour in the Far East Vol. 3 (Steeplechase)
- 1993: Somalia (Evidence)
- 1998: If Our Hearts Could Only See (DIW)
- 2000: Soul of an Angel (Metropolitan)
- 2009: Blueprints of Jazz Vol. 2 (Talking House)
- 2013: The Roots of the Blues (Sunnyside) with Randy Weston
As sideman
With Art Blakey- Live! vol. 1 (Everest, 1968)
- Moanin (LRC, 1968)
- Intensity (Prestige, 1972)
- Charles III (Prestige, 1973)
- Blues in Orbit (Enja, 1969–71)
- Where Flamingos Fly (Artists House, 1971)
- Svengali (Atlantic, 1973)
- The Gil Evans Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix (RCA, 1974)
- There Comes a Time (RCA, 1975)
- Great Friends (Disques Black & Blue, 1986)
- Flute In (Blue Note, 1971)
- Consummation (Blue Note, 1970)
- Potpourri (Philadelphia International, 1974)
- Suite for Pops (Horizon/A&M, 1975)
- Priestess (Capri, 1990)
- Explorations (Capri, 6/30/2004)
- We Remember You (Fresh Sound, 1972)
- The Last Session (Blue Note, 1972)
- Lift Every Voice and Sing (Atlantic, 1971)
- Live in Tokyo vol.1 (Denon, 1977)
- Live in Tokyo vol.2 (Denon, 1977)
- The Loadstar (Horo, 1977)
- Live in Amsterdam (Baystate/RVC, 1977)
- Confirmation (Fluid, 1978)
- Love Dance (Muse, 1975)
- 47th Street (Delmark, 1996)
- Freebop Now! (Delmark, 1998)
- With Love (Mosaic/Blue Note, 2006)
- Emperor March: Live at the Blue Note (Half Note, 2008)
- Journey (Birdology, 1993)
- Tanjah (Polydor, 1973)
- Carnival (Freedom, 1974)
- The Spirits of Our Ancestors (Antilles/Verve, 1991)
- Saga (Verve, 1995)
- The Roots of the Blues (Sunnyside, 2013)
