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NEA Jazz Master Big Chief Donald Harrison has discovered a new step for music with his multi-genre singles music sound concept. The style maven saxophonist was born and bred in New Orleans. He developed the concept from experiences playing with over two hundred musical geniuses, working with quantum physicists, and his New Orleans tribal roots. He has mentored and received critical acclaim from some of today’s most prominent and fastest-rising stars. American Grammy-Award-winning pianist Eddie Palmieri calls him “a genius,” trumpeter Christian aTunde` Adjuah Scott called him “The GOAT,” singer Jon Batiste says he’s “the greatest.” Pianist/producer Robert Glasper certifies him “a legend.” Pay close attention, and you will see the influence of Harrison’s concepts again taking hold as the word multi-genre becomes a fixture among some of the world’s biggest music stars.
Look at the dizzying array of the things this artist has accomplished, and you will see the value of hard work and diligence. We can begin in 2021; Harrison received an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College. He appeared as an actor in nine episodes of “Treme,” where director David Simon created two characters to portray how Harrison innovated music. He was an actor and musician in director Johnathon Demme’s film “Rachel Getting Married and Marvel’s “Luke Cage.” He played himself in Spike Lee’s historic HBO documentary “When The Levees Broke” and Netflix’s documentary “I Got A Story To Tell” about The Notorious BIG.
Harrison is the recognized Big Chief of Congo Square in Afro-New Orleans culture, where he keeps alive one of the root contributors cultures to Traditional jazz. Harrison was made a Chief in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa, and is the only major jazz artist who is Chief on two continents.
This ubiquitous artist honed his craft playing with Roy Haynes, Art Blakey, Eddie Palmieri, Dr. John, Lena Horne, Dr. Eddie Henderson, Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Chuck Loeb, The Headhunters, hip-hop greats Digable Planets, Guru’s Jazzmatazz, The Notorious BIG, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and master jazz innovators of every era and style. He has also played with the master innovators of blues, funk, soul, hip-hop, classical, and New Orleans music.
The man is the innovator of three influential jazz styles. In 1979, at nineteen, He started a modern jazz twist to New Orleans’s second-line music. By the mid-80s, he created “Nouveau Swing,” a concept that blends classic jazz with hip-hop, funk, and soul music. In the ’90s, Harrison made smooth jazz hits and began exploring quantum music in 2008. He began composing and orchestrating classical music for symphonic orchestras in 2013.
Late last year, his recording Congo Square Suite released on Truth Revolution Records introduced the world to the classical composer side of Donald Harrison. He fused his talents between orchestral classical music, jazz, and his Afro-New Orleans roots to create a masterful three-part composition rich in history and the cultures that inspired its soundscape. Harrison returns with “The Art of Passion” on Ropeadope Records, one song played in three different genres. Two versions mirror each other; the third version blends the mirrored versions into a new hybrid style. He created a (trap hip-hop) version, which is the most surprising. It is one of, if not the first, manifestation of a romantic trap hip-hop instrumental. Harrison and Grammy Award-winning producer/singer Darius “Deezle” Harrison composed and produced the song. Harrison composed the other versions with input from his daughter, Victoria Harrison, and Deezle. Those include a 1960s-style swinging acoustic modern jazz version and a hybrid version, where he blends hip-hop and modern jazz into his signature nouveau swing style.
His next work is titled The Magic Touch. A Nouveau Swing Compilation includes nine stylistically different compositions of the same song that Harrison composed, orchestrated, produced, and arranged. The genres include post-bop, reggae, second-line, bossa nova, blues, trap hip-hop, smooth/soul, tropical/salsa, and a version which is in Harrison’s signature nouveau swing style that merges the other eight genres into a seamless acoustic jazz tapestry.
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The idea began in 2005 when Harrison recorded a collection called “3D,” which included three separate CDs dedicated to a different genre (jazz, soul, and hip hop, respectively) but were recreations of the same song collections. On The Magic Touch, he combined that same principle idea with new experiences and ideas hypothesized while working with Stephon Alexander, a quantum theorist. While conceptualizing theories about the omniverse and multiverses on a scientific level, Harrison could connect those same ideas to his approach to musical compositions, particularly how it would affect how he addressed multi-genre recordings going forward.
As Doug Doyle noted in his interview with Harrison, “The Magic Touch solidifies him as the father of omniverse music,” another touching accolade to add to Harrison’s ever-growing list of admiration.
We were fortunate to get an early listen to the collection, which takes you on an enthralling journey through generations of musical expression from the 1920s through the 1980s and into the modern age in a way that only someone with Harrison’s extensive experience, expertise, and unique perspective of the world could develop.
The album opener is an almost anthemic party-inducing celebration of what is arguably Harrison’s omnipresent wheelhouse: Nouveau Swing. The first few bars of the record quickly explain his credit and influence in creating the genre, but that isn’t to say the renditions that follow lack this unique sound and play style; in fact, they only seem to improve upon them.
It’s an upbeat number that kicks itself out of the gate with ferocious tenacity and doesn’t let up for a second. It rests on a casual bed of piano chords, driven by a flamboyantly charismatic horn-led melody that always seems sure of where it’s going and even more confident that you won’t expect any of its colorful twists and turns.
Before long, the horns have casually dropped out of frame, and it’s as though the entire atmosphere has shifted, allowing the piano space to add its playful spin to the track’s intoxicating story.
As the musical collection continues, listeners hear different and delightful instrument features. They are all hungry for their turn in the spotlight and to make their contributions to the history of their respective genres well understood. If you are someone who often finds yourself contemplating wonders of the musical sphere like “What makes a bop different from a swing,” or “How do you distinguish New Orleans jazz from Chicago blues,” then The Magic Touch provides a sensational backdrop to enrich those discussions making this compilation just as impressive for its encyclopedic quintessence as it is simply a breathtaking auditory experience for even the most casual listeners.
At the halfway mark, the piece takes a sensual turn as it adapts from traditional swing to seductive and soulful temperaments. If you had yet to be told everything you’ve heard so far was developed from the same framework, there is almost no way you would deduce that from how Harrison crafted these uniquely distinctive arrangements.
We carry on through the captivating omniverse Harrison has created for us into halls still soaking with the emotional vivacity of blues guitar greats, out into earthy Roots-Reggae before returning to a classical smooth jazz rendition embodied masterfully by Harrison, whose affinity for diving so deeply into the study of the artists who came before him and equally in their own right excel in the bracket is palpable with each note.
To our surprise and delight, the final composition comes most unexpectedly: a trap-hop-infused club beat to close out an unforgettable showcase of Harrison’s musical command and prowess.
This music is simply one that cannot be wholly appreciated until heard in its entirety, and undoubtedly, it would be even more transcendent as performed live in person. Still, we have been equally moved by those captured on his spellbinding recordings.
Harrison said, “The possibilities of multi-genre music are infinite. Just thinking of a young hip-hop lover liking my trap rendition of a song and then hearing the jazz and soul music versions gives me hope for the future.”
We all stand on that one thing that is a beacon of hope. Comment and let us know what gives you hope.
