Most Recent Projects
Neighborhood Salon Luminaries (2020-2021) Project Sponsor: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston MA
"DOORWAYS"
A musical exploration of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
A through composed piece by pianist, composer, and educator, Kevin Harris for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Luminary Lens Series
The idea of Doorways formed with Harris noticing that some visitors at the Gardner Museum walked quickly from room to room mostly in anticipation of what was in the next room, while others sat patiently pondering the experience of the room they were presently in. This phenomenon caused Harris to also ponder to what degree Gardner chose for her visitors to not assimilate to the opinions and perspective of others, but instead patiently form opinions and perspectives of their own.
“The opportunity to explore and become acquainted with the Gardner was empowering” continued Harris. “Beyond considering what was aesthetically important, I sense that Gardner’s true aim was to employ the power of the arts to expand her guests’ stance and point of view in life.”
Doorways is a through composed composition sounding out soulful melodies that surface and resurface in various keys and rhythms. These frequently changing tonalities and melodies represent our own continued evolution from room to room in our lives. Through the musical twists and turns of his composition, Harris desires that the listeners imagine their own evolving circumstances and make a masterpiece of each moment.
The Neighborhood Salon is a gathering of Boston's select artists and cultural luminaries.
Neighborhood Salon cohorts nurture an active exchange of ideas between Boston's most innovative and thoughtful creatives, fostering collaborations and artistic networks while shaping Gardner Museum programming.
Modeled after Isabella Stewart Gardner’s legacy as a curator and hostess of artist salons around the turn of the century, the primary goal of the Neighborhood Salon is to exchange creative ideas and dialogue with Boston’s most innovative and thoughtful luminaries as a means of informing programming at the Gardner.
The Neighborhood Salon is led by Rhea Vedro and Luana Morales.
2021 Projects
A SEASON SPECTACULAR @ THE CARR CENTER, DETROIT (MI) (November 2021)
This past November Harris had the opportunity to perform in The Center’s first LIVE music presentation since the COVID-19 pandemic closed venues in spring of 2020.
It was an honor to arrange all the music for the event and share the stage with drummer and Grammy Award Winner Terri Lyne Carrington, jazz and pop keyboardist Patrice Rushen, vocalist Jazzmeia Horn, harpist Brandee Younger, and bassist Rodney Whitaker.
SIGNIFYIN’ NATIVES - NEW ENGLAND TOUR (November 2021)
Signifyin' Natives is an ongoing project of rotating personnel under bass trombonist and tubais Bill Lowe's leadership. The band has performed in several interdisciplinary productions. This iteration of the ensemble brought together new and old collaborators from Lowe's long and distinguished career. The septet included Bill Lowe (tuba, bass trombone); Hafez Modirzadeh (saxophones); Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet); Kevin Harris (piano); Ken Filiano (acoustic bass); Luther Gray (drums); and Naledi Masilo (vocals).
Bass trombonist and tubaist Bill Lowe has been a major force in the music world for close to fifty years as a performer, composer, producer, and educator. He has worked with most of the masters of African-American creative music, across all genres and musical cliques, from musical legends like Dizzy Gillespie, Eartha Kitt, and Clark Terry, to the leaders of the avant-garde like Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill, and Cecil Taylor, to under-heralded greats like George Russell, James Jabbo Ware and Bill Barron. As an educator, Lowe has taught at several major universities, lectured throughout the world from Cuba to Paris, and mentored countless young musicians.
FABIO ROJAS QUINTET @ BROOKLYN MUSIC CONSERVATORY (October 2021)
Fabio Rojas is a Drummer/Film Composer and Educator based in NYC, originally from Valencia, Venezuela. His quintet performed original compositions blending different trends and presenting modern jazz as part of the new generation of artists, combining elements from the past, and always exploring the future with innovations.
This performance featured Fabio Rojas on drums, Greg Osby on alto sax, Kevin Harris on piano, Gustavo D’Amico on tenor sax, and Osmar Okuma on bass.
This concert was an exhilarating and exploratory experience for the public.
CAMBRIDGE RIVER STREAM FESTIVAL (June 2021)
Stream Festival was the City’s annual River Festival reimagined for the second pandemic year as an online showcase of jazz.
Harris played a combination of his original tunes and arrangments of Fats Waller, Billy Strayhorn, and of course, Thelonious Monk.
It was curated by Shelley Neill and produced in partnership with the Multicultural Arts Center, Cambridge Jazz Foundation, JazzBoston, Cambridge Community Television and Studio@550.
Watch on my YouTube channel.