Billy Harper

Billy Harper (born January 17, 1943) is an American jazz saxophonist, "one of a generation of Coltrane-influenced tenor saxophonists" with a distinctively stern, hard-as-nails sound on his instrument.

Biography He was born in Houston, Texas, United States.

Harper has played with some of jazz's greatest drummers; he served with Art Blakey's Messengers for two years (1968–1970); he played very briefly with Elvin Jones (1970), he played with the Thad Jones/ Mel Lewis Orchestra in the 1970s, and was a member of Max Roach's quartet from 1971–1978. In 1979, Harper formed his own group, touring with it and documenting its music on the recording Billy Harper Quintet in Europe, and he was featured as a soloist on a 1983 recording, Such Great Friends, with virtuoso, visionary pianist and record producer Stanley Cowell. After a period of relative inactivity in the 1980s, Harper came back strong with another international tour, which ended with perhaps his most ambitious recording: the three-volume Live on Tour in the Far East (1991). In the new millennium, Harper's recording activity has been subdued and sporadic, though more recently he appeared as a regular member of pianist-jazz historian Randy Weston's ensembles. In 2013, they recorded their first album as a duo, entitled The Roots of the Blues.

A retrospective of Billy Harper's career would include the following among its highlights: The saxophonist performed on Gil Evans' 1973 album Svengali, and contributed two of the most-performed tunes in the band's repertoire: "Priestess" and "Thoroughbred". The Italian jazz label Black Saint was launched with Harper's 1975 album, Black Saint. His later releases have mostly been on SteepleChase and Evidence Records.

For most of his career, Harper was known almost exclusively within New York City’s jazz circles, aside from tours with his ensembles in Europe and the Far East. But in mid-2017, he suddenly stepped into international attention thanks to his brief yet crucial appearance in the acclaimed film I Called Him Morgan. Released for streaming and purchase in June, the movie traces the life of trumpet prodigy Lee Morgan and the woman who helped him recover from heroin addiction—only to later become his killer. The film invites the viewer into the director’s seven-year search for understanding, culminating at the moment Morgan returned to the bandstand for the final set at Slug’s Saloon, a jazz club on the Bowery in Lower East Manhattan. Harper, walking beside Morgan at that fateful instant, heard the gunshot that left both men—victim and witness alike—stunned and frozen in disbelief.

Discography As leader/co-leader 1973: Capra Black (Strata-East) 1974: Jon & Billy (Trio) – with Jon Faddis 1975: Black Saint (Billy Harper Quintet On Tour In Europe '75) (Black Saint) 1977: Love on the Sudan (Denon) 1977: Soran-Bushi, B.H. (Denon) 1978: Knowledge of Self (Denon) 1979: Billy Harper Quintet in Europe (Soul Note) 1979: The Awakening (Marge) 1979: Trying to Make Heaven My Home (Saba/MPS) 1980: The Believer (Baystate/RVC) 1980: Billy Harper Quintet [live] (PolJazz) 1989: Destiny Is Yours (Steeplechase) 1991: Live on Tour in the Far East (Steeplechase) 1991: Live on Tour in the Far East Vol. 2 (Steeplechase) 1991: Live on Tour in the Far East Vol. 3 (Steeplechase) 1993: Somalia (Evidence) 1997: If Our Hearts Could Only See (DIW) 1999: Soul of an Angel (Metropolitan) 2008: Blueprints of Jazz Vol. 2 (Talking House Records) 2013: The Roots of the Blues (Sunnyside) – with Randy Weston

As sideman With Art Blakey Live! Vol. 1 (Everest, 1968) Moanin (LRC, 1968)With Charles Earland Intensity (Prestige, 1972) Charles III (Prestige, 1972–1973)With Gil Evans Blues in Orbit (Enja, 1969–1971) Where Flamingos Fly (Artists House, 1971) Svengali (Atlantic, 1973) The Gil Evans Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix (RCA, 1974) There Comes a Time (RCA, 1975)With The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra Consummation (Blue Note, 1970) Potpourri (Philadelphia International, 1974) Suite for Pops (Horizon/A&M, 1975)With Lee Morgan The Last Session (Blue Note, 1971) We Remember You (Fresh Sound, 1972)With Max Roach Lift Every Voice and Sing (Atlantic, 1971) Live in Tokyo Vol. 1 (Denon, 1977) Live in Tokyo Vol. 2 (Denon, 1977) The Loadstar (Horo, 1977) Live in Amsterdam (Baystate/RVC, 1977) Confirmation (Fluid, 1978)With Malachi Thompson 47th Street (Delmark, 1997) Freebop Now! (Delmark, 1998) Blue Jazz (Delmark, 2003) – with Gary BartzWith Charles Tolliver With Love (Mosaic/Blue Note, 2006) Emperor March: Live at the Blue Note (Half Note, 2008 )With Randy Weston Tanjah (Polydor, 1973) Carnival (Freedom, 1974) The Spirits of Our Ancestors (Antilles/Verve, 1991) Saga (Verve, 1995) The Roots of the Blues (Sunnyside, 2013)With others''' Louis Armstrong, Louis Armstrong and His Friends (Flying Dutchman/Amsterdam, 1970) Horacee Arnold, Tribe (Columbia, 1973) Joe Bonner, Angel Eyes (Muse, 1976) Stanley Cowell, Such Great Friends (Strata-East, 1983) Sonny Fortune, Great Friends (Black & Blue, 1986) Bobbi Humphrey, Flute-In (Blue Note, 1971) Mark Masters Jazz Orchestra, Priestess (Capri, 1990) – with Jimmy Knepper Grachan Moncur III, Exploration (Capri, 2004) Woody Shaw, Love Dance (Muse, 1975) Leon Thomas, The Leon Thomas Album (Flying Dutchman, 1970) McCoy Tyner, Journey (Birdology, 1993) Barney McAll, Widening Circles (Extra Celestial Arts, 1998) Piotr Wojtasik, Quest'' (Power Bros Records – PB 00147, 1996)