Allan Harris Promotional Material
BIOGRAPHY:
Winner of the 2004 New York Nightlife Award for “Outstanding Male Jazz Vocalist”
Amidst a serious shortage of great male jazz singers, Allan Harris is a blessing. With a rich velvety voice and a dynamic stage manner, Harris’ voice and demeanor project the warmth of Tony Bennett, the bite and rhythmic sense of Sinatra, and the sly elegance of Nat ‘King' Cole." Now, with the release of Cross That River, Allan Harris displays his gift for song writing and story telling. Cross That River is the first recording in what will be a trilogy relating the story of the Black West. Harris shows with conviction, that not only does he have something to bring to the world of jazz, but that he is one of the leading male singer/songwriters of his generation.
Allan Harris has thrilled audiences all over the world and has debuted several unique one-of-a-kind performances. For example, a few years ago Harris was invited to initiate a Jazz Series at Sotheby's and decided to create an historic event pairing his vocals with one of the greatest piano accompanists of all time, Tommy Flanagan. Flanagan who was Ella Fitzgerald’s accompanist for twenty years had sworn off accompanying vocalists and Harris is the one singer who was able to persuade Mr. Flanagan to change his mind. They called the evening “Our Favorite Songs,” and when word got out, National Public Radio requested permission to record it live. The following year Harris reprised that concert by performing “Our Favorite Songs-2” with pianist Cyrus Chestnut. His last concert series at Sotheby’s was a long awaited tribute to the great Nat “King” Cole, which was recorded and aired live on XM Radio. Harris also developed a concert tribute to Billy Strayhorn with a lecture provided by the author of Lush Life, David Hajdu. This lecture/concert series toured the country and was last performed at the Kennedy Center on February 28, 2003. It was also recorded by National Public Radio for "Jazz Set with Dee Dee Bridgewater." Recently, Harris debuted the title song from Cross That River at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall where it was enthusiastically received. In December 2003, JazzIz Magazine featured a 4 page interview on Cross That River which has been called “The Soulful Side of the West,” and it was voted one of the best recordings of the year.
Harris has sung and recorded with some of the best jazz pianists in the world: Cyrus Chestnut, Bill Charlap, Eric Reed, Benny Green, Bruce Barth, and Tommy Flanagan. He has performed at sold-out venues such as Berlin’s Komische Opera House; Israel - a 10 day standing-room-only tour; Finland’s Espoo Jazz Festival; Sweden’s Linkoping Jazz Festival; New Zealand’s Queenstown Jazz Festival; Germany’s Swing IT Concert/TV Series with the New York Voices and James Morrison; Lugano, Switzerland with Jon Faddis and the Big Band de Lausanne singing the lead in Duke Ellington’s Sacred Mass which was recorded live. He has recorded numerous CDs: Setting The Standard, It's a Wonderful World, Here Comes Allan Harris and the Metropole Orchestra, The Music of Duke Ellington, Laid Back, Love Came-The Songs of Strayhorn, Unfortgettable-the Songs of Nat ‘King’ Cole, and Cross That River. Allan’s recordings have featured Ray Brown, Benny Green, Mark Whitfield, Clark Terry, Claudio Roditi, and Latin Grammy winner, Nestor Torres. Tony Bennett has praised Allan’s technique and integrity and called him “my favorite new singer.” At a showcase in New York sponsored by Bennett, Sammy Cahn introduced Harris: "Frank Sinatra says his favorite singer is Tony Bennett, and Tony Bennett says his favorite singer is Allan Harris."
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Harris was surrounded by music. His mother was a classical pianist and his aunt was an opera singer who later turned to the blues. Because Aunt Theodosia attracted the attention of famed music producer Clarence Williams, (the man who made Bessie Smith famous) he became a regular dinner guest and often brought along other performers such as Louis Armstrong. Once Armstrong even baby-sat and terrified young Allan with his "frog like voice." Because of this musical influence in his young life, Allan chose to become a musician early on when his mother insisted he sing “Blue Velvet” for school at the age of eight.
Harris is also a master clinician and teacher and has been the JAS Aspen Academy Vocal Master for several years working alongside Christian McBride and Loren Schoenberg. He has done numerous master classes for the Berklee School of Music, The Jazz Vocal Coalition, City College’s Aaron Davis Hall, Lausanne, Switzerland’s Jazz Music School, to name a few. Harris has sat on the Kennedy Center panel to choose the next U.S. Jazz Ambassador and has judged the Thelonious Monk Awards Vocal Competition. Most recent performances include: Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall: 2004-Opening for Cassandra Wilson during the inaugural week and debuting a new work by Wynton Marsalis entitled “Suite for Human Nature;” January 21 & 22, 2005 - The Kennedy Center: "Unforgettable, The Songs of Nat 'King' Cole;" and March 11, 2005 - "The Legacy Series" at Aaron Davis Hall, in a double bill with Abbey Lincoln performing the songs of Harlem's greatest composers. On March 25, 2006 Allan Harris will debut Cross That River at Kennedy Center for Country Music Week. BET Jazz has recorded and aired several of Allan's live concerts with hosts Lou Rawls and Ramsey Lewis. He has been featured on the Smithsonian's Radio Show "Jazz Singers" for Public Radio International. Will Friedwald, the author of "Jazz Singing" and "Sinatra" calls him "probably the most exciting singer on the scene." CNN's Showbiz Tonight referred to Harris as "one of the three best male jazz vocalists in the country."
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