Stefon Harris is a good looking guy, make no mistake about it but it takes more than good looks to do what Mr. Harris does. He makes playing the vibraphone look cool. Nothing against the vibraphone, mind you. It provides a nice tone and enhances any jazz piece. However, it is a giant, lumbering piece of equipment that anchors you to a specific area of the stage. Plus, while it does produce nice tones, they aren't overtly dominant ones. Hopefully, Lionel Hampton is up in heaven somewhere looking down on Mr. Harris making the vibraphone cool.
Stefon Harris was saved, saved from a life of rigid conformity and constant rehashes of long dead cats, who, people consider it a sacrilege if you vary one note, might as well have written their compositions in stone. It was Mr. Harris' plan to join the New York Philharmonic but he was rescued by Bird. Not the winged variety but the jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker. Bird's music enthralled the young man and Parker's Hard-Bop sounds can be heard in some of Mr. Harris' work.
Harris has noted about some of his work with the group Blackout, via his record label's website, "Music is about authenticity, telling your story and sharing real-life stories that are from the 'here and now,' not just about the past."
It's not only neophytes who are singing the Mr. Harris' praise. Venerable jazz critic Nat Hentoff also has fallen under the spell of Harris' creative magic. Unlimited Myles had this quote from Hentoff about Mr. Harris, "His music needs no labels like 'postmodern' or 'cutting edge'. It is Stefon Harris music, as Charles Mingus, he insisted, was Mingus music."
Not only is Lionel Hampton, no doubt, proud of seeing a vibraphonist make good but he must be giddy with the respect being paid to Stefon Harris ahd his music. I guess the vibraphone can be cool, after all.
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