Billy Harper

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For the English footballer, see Billy Harper (footballer).
Billy Harper
File:Billy Harper photo 2.jpg
Billy Harper performing at the Jazz Standard in 2007.
Background information
Born (1943-01-17) January 17, 1943 (age 81)
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]

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

As sideman

With Art Blakey

  • Live! vol. 1 (Everest, 1968)
  • Moanin (LRC, 1968)

With Charles Earland

With Gil Evans

With Sonny Fortune

  • Great Friends (Disques Black & Blue, 1986)

With Bobbi Humphrey

With The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra

With Mark Masters Jazz Orchestra

  • Priestess (Capri, 1990)

With Grachan Moncur III

  • Explorations (Capri, 6/30/2004)

With Lee Morgan

With Max Roach

With Woody Shaw

With Malachi Thompson

  • 47th Street (Delmark, 1996)
  • Freebop Now! (Delmark, 1998)

With Charles Tolliver

  • With Love (Mosaic/Blue Note, 2006)
  • Emperor March: Live at the Blue Note (Half Note, 2008)

With McCoy Tyner

With Randy Weston

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chris Kelsey, Billy Harper Biography, Allmusic.
  2. ↑ Office of Registrar & Alumni Records, University of North Texas, Denton
  3. ↑ "Randy Weston & Billy Harper on The Roots of the Blues", Open Sky Jazz, November 28, 2013.
  4. ↑ Jason Ankeny, Capra Black review, Allmusic.
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