Sax player Donald Harrison

Donald Harrison. (photo credit:JAZZ ASCONA)

If you’re looking for jazz pedigree, you can’t do much better than get someone in from New Orleans, the accepted cradle of the art form. Donald Harrison, who is the next star turn in this year’s Hot Jazz series, hails from said southern US city and will be doing his bit to entertain audiences in Jerusalem, Herzliya, Modi’in, Tel Aviv and Haifa between January 25 and 30.

The 55-year-old saxophonistvocalist is a prime example of the eclectic reach of the discipline. He is well steeped in the history and roots of jazz but is also very much in the here and now. He can unfurl a bebop solo as well as the next jazz guy or gal, but he is always looking to infuse his work with contemporary energies and sonic forms.

Harrison gained his formal education at Southern University, at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and subsequently at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He quickly came to the attention of some of the doyens of the profession, serving in valuable sideman berths with the likes of drummer Roy Haynes, organist Jack McDuff and iconic drummer Art Blakey’s longrunning Jazz Messengers group.

Those confluences with master players who preceded the young Harrison by a couple of generations, combined with being born in the right place, gave the reedman a healthy handle on where it all comes from.

“Charlie Parker said, ‘If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.’ I try to live everything and experience it so that the music has a truthful essence,” says Harrison.

His reference to Parker was part of the flow of our conversation and was certainly relevant to the subject matter, as it brought one of the founding fathers of modern jazz into the confab. It was also entirely appropriate for the local tour at hand, as the shows are being presented as a tribute to Charlie “Bird” Parker.

Naturally, Harrison will not be attempting to imitate Bird’s approach to jazz standards, even if anyone around today were capable of matching the late master’s peerless delivery. Then again, the New Orleans native will be following Parker’s suit.

“I’ll be trying to do what he did, learning from the great masters of jazz,” says Harrison. “You have to understand what the music is.

This is traditional music. A lot of musicians don’t want to play the blues and learn the tradition.”

Harrison believes you’ve got to know where you’re coming from if you’re going to get anywhere.

“There are a lot of guys who are great musicians, but they are not connected to jazz. They don’t really understand how to play jazz.

read more: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/The-chief-comes-to-town-442255