"I guess you could say Barry
Harris is one of the very last of the bebop purists that we have on piano. He
is a living and brilliant extension of Bud Powell."
Walter Bishop Jr.
"I've always thought that if Charlie Parker had played piano,
he would sound exactly like Barry Harris. Or is it the other way around? In any
case, Barry's sense of time, motion and rhythm is absolutely impeccable."
Benny Golson
"A list of Harris' graduates reads like a Who's Who of Jazz;
among them are Paul Chambers, Curtis Fuller, Joe Henderson, Lonnie Hillyer, Yusef
Lateef, Hugh Lawson, Kirk Lightsey, Charles McPherson, and Doug Watkins."
"Harris' (method) is unique in both its emphasis and detail,
for it teaches students precisely how to transform the (basic theoretical) elements
into credible phrases and focuses as much upon the creative processes of improvisation
as upon its products, effectively clarifying the relationship between theory and
performance practice in the jazz tradition."
"Harris' theory is an expansive generative method. It encourages
musicians to create original phrases based, in part, on the cross-fertilization
of rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic models embodied in the rules Harris promulgates."
Excerpts from 'Thinking in Jazz', by Paul F. Berliner,
University of Chicago Press 1994 |
