UK Jazz News

‘Big Chief Donald Harrison

Appearing at Ronnie Scott's on 4 November

Donald Harrison. Photo courtesy of Ropadope Records

Over 200 master innovators – they’re in my DNA. I’ll never leave that part behind. They live in anything that I do from this point on. It’s just part of my being.” Alto saxophonist ‘Big Chief’ Donald Harrison is a giant of the New Orleans jazz scene. An alumnus of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers (1982-86), a master innovator, musician and mentor, Harrison has one foot in the past and the other planted firmly in the future.

Something that stands out immediately when talking to Harrison is his humility and gratitude to those who have come before him. Paying homage to the greats – Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Harrison says

“I worked decades to get the chance to play with every generation of jazz artists and fortunately all of those people live inside of my fiber. I’m thankful for that. They were inclusive musicians; in that they included everything that they heard and felt natural to them. Those ideals are the ideals that I aspire to.” Harrison talks with great love about Charlie Parker and the lessons he learned from him over the years:

“I’m still studying Charlie Parker – sometimes I get the lessons later. I understand the notes, but the higher logic of what he’s doing, sometimes comes a little later.”

Quoting Parker, he says:

“If you don’t live it; it won’t come out of your horn! I want to live everything.”

It is no wonder then, after so many decades of living, listening and innovating, that Harrison’s curiosity led him to the exploration of quantum physics, fueled by his friendship with qauntum physicist and fellow jazz musician, Stephan Alexander.

“I was just reading about Einstein and then I had a revelation that I was doing some of these things in a musical way.” An exploration of fourth-dimensional possibilities in music culminated in Harrison’s 2010 album “Quantum Leap”, which continued its evolution to eventually become a full-blown music festival over a decade later. ‘Donald Harrison’s Quantum Leap Festival’ premiered this September in Long Island, New York and featured performances by The Head Hunters, The Joe Dyson Trio and traditional New Orleans outfit, The Preservation Hall Legacy Band to name just a few. Next year’s festival is already scheduled for Aug 14th-17th and although Harrison is tight lipped about the line up, there is no doubt the 2025 bill will be as exciting and innovative as ever.

Harrison is certainly not the first musician to develop a fascination with science. Many jazz musicians have gone down that rabbit hole with varying levels of success. There is always a risk, when composing based on the principals of nature and mathematics, of creating music that is overly cerebral and lacking in spontaneity and humanity – all the things we love about jazz! When asked how he navigated this particular challenge, Harrison responds

“Science is the study of what is natural.” In the study of jazz, Harrison is the eternal student and teacher – always listening and growing:

“Over 200 master innovators – they’re in my DNA. I’ll never leave that part behind. They live in anything that I do from this point on. It’s just part of my being.”

Harrison’s latest release is his multi-genre singles concept. The same composition, ‘The Magic Touch’ is reimagined in eight different genres, with the ninth recording being an acoustic jazz amalgamation of the previous eight genres mixed together.

“We’re finding so many ideas inside the paradigms and how they connect together.” From Nouveau Swing to Latin and Groove, everything is there.

Harrison and his band (Dan Kaufman on piano, Noriatsu Naraoka on bass and Joe Dyson on drums) are coming to Ronnie Scott’s on the 4th of November in a concert that is already sold out to perform “Serious music, but also fun music. Serious fun! From roots to infinity!” When asked about what audiences can expect, Harrison promises to “play from the heart in a way that keeps your head bouncing and your foot tapping!”

It is clear that Harrison lives and breathes jazz music mind, body and soul. After so many decades learning, playing and mentoring, he has left an undeniable imprint on the genre that will stretch far into the future. Always the teacher, Harrison’s ends our conversation with one final piece of advice:

“If you think of music like a bank account, you realize what you have to do. You can’t take anything out that you didn’t put in, so do your work!”

Click here to listen to all one-minute versions of “The Magic Touch.

UK Jazz News has two tickets to Harrison’s sold-out Ronnies show to give away to a lucky subscriber to our newsletter, as well as three recordings on a flash drive and a limited-edition lithograph.

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