"For me, I'm outgoing but I'm also soft-spoken at the same time, and I think the vibes and the marimba have a very percussive side in that you can be aggressive but they also has a very sweet sound that makes them very supportive," said jazz vibraphonist Stefon Harris when asked about his attraction to the two instruments.
On his latest work, entitled "Evolution," Harris and his band Blackout - Casey Benjamin on alto saxophone, Marc Cary on keyboards, Darryl Hall on bass and Terreon Gully on drums - transform the face of jazz mostly due in part to the group's wide array of musical influences - Latin, hip-hop, R&B and electronica to name a few - into what they define it as in present day.
Invented in the U.S. in the early 1900s, jazz legends like Lionel Hampton, Bobby Hutcherson and Milt Jackson popularized the vibes, which is a descendant of the marimba found in Mexico and Guatemala.
The vibes look similar to a xylophone with its metal bars that are hit with mallets of varying hardness but unlike the vibes, the xylophone and the marimba are made of wood.
Harris, 30, put out "Evolution," his fifth album for Blue Note Records, as a documented culmination of the band's development thus far.
Harris was born in Albany, N.Y., and began playing piano at the age of 6. By the time he reached middle school, Harris not only played the clarinet but percussion instruments as well. In high school, he garnered the esteemed principal chair as percussionist with the famed Empire State Youth Orchestra.
Harris later earned his bachelor's degree in classical music and his master's degree in jazz performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Since then, he has earned three Grammy nominations and Jazz at Lincoln Center's prestigious Martin E. Segal Award. He has recorded and toured with some of the best jazz musicians alive today such as Max Roach, Joe Henderson, Wynton Marsalis, Charlie Hunter, Kenny Barron and Cassandra Wilson.
The new album combines both original works and covered standards. Among the covers, Harris and company cover Sting's "Until" and George Gershwin's "Summertime" with the former reflecting Harris' deep interest in the melodic structure of a song. Both Davis and guest pianist Xavier Davis solo on the tune, augmenting its moving progression without adding any unwanted clutter to it.
Harris who is playing at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City from June 8 through 13 sat down with The Beach Reporter this week and talked about his new album, his band mates and ways in which he fine-tunes his hearing.
The Beach Reporter: You did an incredible job of covering Sting's 'Until,' which is a great song on the 'Kate and Leopold' soundtrack. With a catalog as large as Sting's, what was it about this song that you felt you wanted to record it?
Harris: It's a very moving song. The first time I heard it, the song captured me right away. It's an incredibly beautiful and graceful melody, and that's definitely the most important thing for me in a song - the melody.
Is it the first take?
Actually it is. It's a song that plays itself, you wouldn't want to do two or three takes on something like that. I actually hope that it becomes a future standard in jazz. We have a lot of older songs that we play from musicals, and it's always a goal of mine to keep my ears open and look for new pieces that I think are really beautiful. As soon as I heard this song, I grabbed it.
Do you remember at what point you realized that you could be a musician and actually make a living at it?
Ooh, that's a tough one there. I always knew I wanted to be a musician ever since I was 10. It's just kind of a dream that I've always had and I just always worked toward it. I never really had to have a job outside of playing music. I worked in an office a little bit when I was in college but besides that, it was all a very gradual transition. It's not like one day I got one big gig and everything was OK. One of the bigger gigs I got was with Jazz at Lincoln Center, playing in the jazz band there with Wynton Marsalis. I was very fortunate; I don't have the same story as a lot of other jazz musicians.
What is it about the vibes? Not very many people play them so what was it that attracted you to that instrument?
The vibes are just sexy, come on. You know it's funny, it's not that I loved the vibes or anything like that, I just love music. I used to play a lot of different instruments and one day I took an audition for this orchestra when I was in eighth grade. I auditioned on clarinet and I auditioned on percussion. I was accepted as a percussionist and so I chose to be a percussionist. It was really a random decision like that, I could have ended up playing the clarinet or something. If I weren't playing the vibes today I'd probably be playing the piano or something else, I just love the music. It does seem to me that the vibes and the marimba are a good fit for my personality (laughs). Some instruments match the personalities of the people playing them like trumpet players tend to be very outgoing.
In learning the instrument, is it something in which you immerse yourself in the philosophies of both a drummer and a pianist since it seems to be an instrument that resides in the middle ground of those two instruments?
Yeah, it's right in the middle. It's similar in technique to playing drums in terms of the movement of one's hands and arms, and then it's set up just like the keys on the piano. It's certainly an instrument in and of itself. It also has a pedal that works in the same way as the pedals on the piano.
How would you describe the vibes?
It has long tubes in the front that help amplify the sound a little bit. Inside of each of those tubes there is a little metal disc that spins around and actually gives the instrument its vibrato like a human voice which is a really unique characteristic of the instrument. It's why it's called a vibraphone. Actually I primarily play the marimba when I'm performing. I play it 80 percent to 90 percent of the time I'm on stage. The marimba is a similar instrument except it's made of rosewood. It doesn't have a pedal and it doesn't sustain. I like the marimba a lot because I think it's a more organic sound because of the wood. It has a really beautiful, haunting sound.
How would you describe your relationship with your instruments?
I would describe it as two best friends who don't see each other very often. You cannot see someone for years and when you get together it's like you never left, it's like you saw them yesterday. I say that because I don't spend a lot of time in front of the vibraphone when I'm at home. I don't practice on them. I usually spend my time, working on my ears and I tend to compose at the piano. But when I get on stage I feel very, very connected to the instrument. In fact, half the time I play with my eyes closed I'm so comfortable with it.
How did this band take shape?
Each of the guys in the band has a lot of different influences and they are all incredible musicians whom I have a tremendous amount of respect for each and every one of them. On drums, Terreon Gully, he grew up playing in church. He also plays a lot of hip-hop and R&B gigs, and can really swing. So, he's that perfect hybrid that can really go between worlds and bring all of it to the jazz world. It's not a compromise one way or the other, he does both equally well. Darryl Hall, he kind of grew up playing electric bass in more R&B-type ensembles and he also is a great, great jazz player. All the guys in the band have played with legendary jazz musicians from Benny Carter to Joe Henderson so we all have that in common. Darryl is able to take that earlier R&B style of an electric bass and translate that to an upright bass, and that is exactly what I needed for this band. Marc Cary is on keyboards. He grew up in Washington, D.C., and played a lot of go-go and house music. You'll hear on some of the songs that there is a little bit of that type of influence present. Casey Benjamin on alto saxophone is from New York and he has played with legendary jazz musicians but he also goes on the road with people like DJ Logic and plays in a lot of electronica settings. It's a great mix of people with a variety of contemporary influences with a strong foundation in jazz and the whole idea for a group like this is that we are changing ownership of the music.
You can hear a lot of different musical styles on 'Evolution.' Would you consider yourself one who is into a lot of different music genres?
Definitely, the definition of music is organized sound, that's it. Outside of that I don't judge music. I listen to classical, jazz, R&B, rap, rock, whatever. Actually, you tend to listen to music for different reasons. Sometimes you're hearing it as an active listener to study and borrow ideas, and sometimes it's good to have in the background. For instance, if I want to dance it's not likely I'm going to put on Ornette Coleman or something.
What are your top-five desert-island records?
Bob Marley, "Legend"
Stevie Wonder, "Songs in the Key of Life"
Miles Davis, "Kind of Blue"
Shirley Horn with strings, "Here's to Life"
Oh, I don't know, something with Roberta Flack and Donnie Hathaway, a collection.
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