Big Chief Donald Harrison at the FAENA Theater this Wednesday, August 2! This is the RESCHEDULED date from the previous date. The Big Chief is feeling much better after his heart attack and will play for us in the beautiful FAENA Theater. Good seats are still available here: https://www.faena.com/miami-beach/things-to-do/events-calendar/faena-jazz-series-concert-with-big-chief-donald-harrison

The foundation of Harrison’s music comes from his lifelong participation in New Orleans culture. He started in New Orleans second-line culture and studied New Orleans secret tribal culture, under his father, Big Chief Donald Harrison Sr. He studied at the Berklee College of Music. As a professional musician he worked with Roy Haynes and Jack McDuff, before joining Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers with Terence Blanchard and recorded albums in a quintet until 1989. Two years later, Harrison released a tribute album to Blakey, For Art’s Sake. This was followed by an album that reached into Harrison’s New Orleans heritage, with guest appearances by Dr. John and Cyrus Chestnut and chants by the Guardians of the Flame Mardi Gras Indians. He devoted half the album, Nouveau Swing (1997), to mixing the swing beat of modern acoustic jazz, with modern dance music and half to mixing the swing beat with Caribbean-influenced music. On the next album, his experiments continued by mixing modern jazz’s swing beat with hip hop, Latin music, R&B, and smooth jazz.