Artists House Master Class Interview with Barry Harris

well thank you for being with us you had to be here for a minute I thought this is the hippest audience and then I sort of occurred to me that there were some plants here really fast I have some questions that were contributed by members of the NYU program I'm gonna use some of them and some others let me ask you first could you describe a little bit what was like the detroit scene with all those great young players I don't know it's hard to say there's a book it talks about Motown but it certainly didn't know whoever wrote it didn't know what actually went on he knew about some of the earliest stuff and he found out some early things but he didn't know what went on when we came up but it was like off we had great musicians in Detroit you know see a lot of great musicians stuck all over the world that's why I like a piano player myself if you think that you the hippest you got to be real careful because you go to one of those cities and there'll be a piano player there that eat you up you have to be real careful about that kind of stuff don't thank you the baddest cause of it you know that's worse our Tatum was in Toledo Ohio and trumpet player who grew up with our tatum he said I want you to take that much of our Taylor March it was just a piano player but when he started traveling with a band and shovel over the country he said hmm our tape me was really bad he that's when he began to find out about cats so in Detroit there were a lot of good musicians I was telling the young fella back there that when we came to New York we came about 20 to 25 strong everybody made it everybody made it as a musician in New York because we come from a background of music there is there's so many people I couldn't even name it names of Jones brothers Oh Tommy Flanagan rollin Hannah all these people down bird Teeter Ford you don't know him my Pharrell I think can t be real and interview if you read Miles Davis book I think he mentions a trumpet player named Claire RocketBallz that was a chump player named declare Michael rockin whatever each I'm playing in Clovis Curtis that was our Alto player named cookie who we thought was just good as bird almost you know we had we had so many musicians great a good leader vibe player we had the real Davis who I learned a lot from there were so many musicians you know and good musicians to straighten you out to in a minute you know I was good I went out to play and I was playing I was real shy but I was playing and what ten appears a bear you better learn how to play I got really well explained I was playing I got with what not he said no no no no no you think I got rhythm his two courses of the Blues a bridge and dinner course of the Blues it's not that Barry so he straightened me out so we have musicians that's straighten this out so we were we became very good musicians the people came to town looking for us Sunday Clark Bobby Turner's all the piano players they came there Walter Davis all of them came to Detroit looking for us they wasn't know what was going on in Detroit they heard about this song so they heard about this person hear about that person is they we're all these people and we had a real of musician cicero's a jazz society you know that was 5,000 strong you know that Kenny Burrell was first president after Kenny Burrell came to Chuck Gunter and so we had we had onto this with we have we have young people playing with older people you know the young ones I know are Brooks Charles McPherson Lonnie heal you Harry Whittaker Donald Walsch and all these people all these young people they played with was late so we developed quite a quite a musical quite a music thing scheme I think it was the biggest drag about this there were too many of us left at the same time was there a formal training the Jews no no he said there's no such thing I mean formal training as far as you mean having a music teacher yes all of us headed you know me and Tommy here is on the same recital I remember he played I forgot what he played I played a revolutionary - he played something else was much more complicated he's much better much better pianist he was real very good and see that's the lady pianist that you know most of you people don't even know about her and she just happens to be up in the Bronx in a nursing home in the Bronx she had an aneurysm and she never played out in the public again but she was the best the name was Terry Pollard she played with Terry gives you her records with her or not would you serve lot to you you ever get a chance to go listen here Terry Pollard play and imagine she's up in the Bronx and probably nobody knows about that that she's up in the Bronx she's one of the greatest pianists elbow she was good when she was 17 she had better than the rest of us because she had perfect pitch she played and be like you playing see he was trying to learn how to play and see and she was playing in an 80 that's how we had to learn out of wit a struggle of playing he she's played in he like you play in any key f-sharp she played in everything so you learn primarily from each other and also from recordings yeah from recordings of each other this is so your earliest influences this is serious symbolism for Susan Florence's well you know the musicians in Detroit did influence me and well you know how they call me what they called me to keeper the bebop flame younger be papa you're not I am your positivity I'm a Charlie Parker Dizzy Gillespie was but Paul Coleman Hawkins prayer as they all be bothers for me coma office was be bappa prayers was a bebop to me you know most people say no anyone but I said they were and I said the Golden Age of the Jazz was then the Golden Age probably began when Copeland Hawkins came back from Europe which goes to show that there must have been something Goods going on in Europe for Coleman Hawkins to come back here and record by the in solace on that good and that body in his soul is the greatest recording ever made by any man and you know you guys just you know Charlie Parker and Dizzy just loves him but power then I go listen to Gugu Turner when you were coming up were you aware that there was a Detroit sound I wouldn't I wouldn't aware of it I uh you know I I've heard people say that you know like the piano players there is a similarity you know there's a similarity between Tommy sound Hank Jones sound look like it's something there's something with us we come from will Davis you know we come all these people could play so we learn something proper you know and so we learn to play right there is a Detroit sound I try to get away from the job how do you transcend your influences well I'll tell you try to get away from you know you think of the East Coast and you think of the West Coast and you think though is that go good luck on the west coat on the East Coast do you think of somebody cares on the west coast I don't know too many and it's like I want to be more attached to the east you know than the West I want to be more you know you listen to mark monkeys are like I don't play like that crowd that's where you play I wish like most of you you are me probably never saw wanted person to see monkey in person was the deal Chico month mom would monk would play the theme song didn't get up Nance and then when Charlie rouse stopped playing he berated the piano and found right in wouldn't skip a beat just right in that's me you played with Parker yeah I said in with it I played with it I said well you know I guess you could say play with it I don't like people sitting because it sounds like I really played with it when he said it I said it with him I said in with him in and all of these places were ballrooms which go to Syria to see the music came out of the ballroom they came out of dance halls it didn't come out of bars they came out to dance they probably came out of bars too but people danced to jazz see in Detroit if you played fast they they cut the time if you play slowly a double the time you dance like that that's where you dance most people don't know about cutting the time and stuff and doubling the time they don't know about that would you but the dancers didn't stop no matter what you played no matter how fast you play the dancers did not stop dancing they danced was that distracting or inspiring all no no wasn't distracting I think it was not inspiring well I think that probably our biggest mistake was taking jazz away from dance you know that because you think about it dancing is where people come in not the people who know how to play the instruments but people come in and then it's certain songs you know like you think see most people new songs like you could play on this ology but most most the audience they do oh that's how Heidemann I know what that is you know they'd be just like that and then burn them something do these every time everybody knew all that's embrace believe it you see the people knew they're not just not just the musicians and people do that I've always been amazed that body and soul was such a hit because it's so abstract but you know what it's it's like I can't even tell you where I know it's a great great request that when you listen to it when it comes on the radio sometimes it's like the Sun comes out when bird plays sometime on the radio it's like the Sun comes out all of a sudden it isn't cold it is damp you know I had the other day two days ago that was the coldest ring and I was felt in my life that rain was so cold my hands were freezing but you know the Sun come out when burden in place when this cat's played you know they pretty fast but you know the shake that's the shake for ask me play for everything shake that I used to tell my class about baby Scruggs or if you have seen babies girls but she was fine there and you know what she would do she come out on the stage with this long keep on tossed around and she said play Cherokee as fast as you could play it and boy you stopped and Cherokee as fast as you can play and she started shaking you ain't never never seen anything like that in your life one tassel at a time right side left side you talk about you needing and the tassels in the back move it and you say oh my goodness what's going on and you sitting up there plan you know and you so we you know we had a connection to everything you know with the connection to the Blues he was connected to I've won the first games I had was with the Ruth Brown and Willis Gator what is negative that Willis yeah Willis Gators yeah that's right just walking behind stuff did you you didn't feel that that was beneath you that no no you know you have to play that shuffle a little bit stuff that's how you made it unless you'd be surprised you learn from that too you know how how did it change when you relocated to New York well well immediately wished I had been older and I had come to New York sooner you know and then I would be here to listen to some of the noise that goes on today you know thought that music was so good he was so good I can't even tell you the Jovi the Geordi felt and you know what there are people who was what's funny about it is that I teach all over the world that's all these people are trying to learn how to play they're all over the world and we I don't know what we're doing there are few of us trying to learn three players here but I mean all over the world I'm a I tell you what remember a date January 25th remember that D be sure you check out the Village Vanguard on that date because I'm gonna bring some young boys here I want you to hear them play from Italy I never heard anybody play back down I mean I had some young cats and I made them play good Charles McPherson Lonnie hear you Harry Whitaker Donald Walden our Jackson all these people they played good but let me tell you there's some boys over at some wars and young boys in Italy when I first heard them they were 12 to 14 and I can't even tell you the experience of him he's really young cats play like that it's what I want to hear him in this country I came here into this country that's pretty weird do you think that there's a chance that the the the major force of jazz could move to another place and I do I do think so it's happening you know it's happening in a way because the teacher the teacher in Holland and the a and the Conservatorium he suddenly needs to go on you know and we talked on the phone and he said when you when you going to come I say well it's getting near that time you know but see I'm sort of worried about my class I don't want nobody people commit suicide and stuff but but I really been thinking about see Verona I tell you it's very inviting I'm telling it it's very inviting believe me when I tell you the Italians take I tell you them Italians trying to get me though I'll tell you that now Colombo I just recognize the voice well I think that's we can't beat that that's a good note and thank you thank you honor forever has always written nicely about the house and he's the one to coin the phrase Barry Harris and his cast of a thousand you have to give you had to give someone to create it to the critics and he's been a very good very good pretty all the time

Channel: ArtistsHouseMusic

Views: 20,321

Rating: 4.9295774 out of 5

Keywords: jazz, master class, teaching, Interview

Id: UNfg5zQI0EI

Length: 17min 56sec (1076 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 06 2013