You
might have to go back as far as John Coltrane’s Stellar Regions (1967) to find an album with as vast a concept as
Stefon Harris’ TheGrand Unification Theory. Then again,
Harris is not what you’d call a one-dimensional musician.
Having
placed second to vibes legend Bobby Hutcherson (and first in the Rising Star
category) in the 2004 DownBeat International Critics Poll, Harris, at the age of 31, is the heir-apparent to
the vibes throne. But his interests reach far beyond.
The Grand
Unification Theory, a tour-de-force album with arrangements for 12 musicians,
is based on his readings in quantum physics: the idea that the connection
between gravitational force, molecular energy, and electromagnetic energy could
provide the solution to the mystery of creation.
Not
exactly Stefon Harris Plays Jazz
Standards. But why not base an album on science? After all, musical notes
have been detected by astrophysicists in the far reaches of the universe. Music
must be part of that equation.
“I
think music is something that’s bigger than we are,” Harris says. “I don’t
think we created it; I just think that we recognize it. The reason I study
music and practice to develop my ears is so I can hear more clearly that which
already exists. I look at it in a very broad sense. I don’t know who created it
and that’s irrelevant to me. All I know is that when my ears are really finely
tuned, I can hear the right note. And the only reason I know it’s the right
note is because it already exists.”
Harris
makes a rare Rochester appearance this weekend, when he’ll premiere 11 new
arrangements at the 35th Annual Penfield Jazz Fund Raiser with a variety of
student ensembles.
When Harris
was a student growing up in Albany, the first music he fell for was
r&b: Stevie Wonder, The Commodores, Diana Ross, James Brown. And he was his
own first teacher.
“My
brother and sister could play piano a little bit and they would never teach me.
I’m the baby of the bunch and they would always pick on me, so I said I’m going
to learn how to do this on my own,” he says. “My family moved into an apartment
where somebody left an old piano and a bunch of books. It’s pretty simple.
There’s a picture of a keyboard and an arrow pointing to a key and it says
‘this is C.’ So I figured that must be C.”
C
indeed. By his teenage years Harris was playing clarinet, flute, trombone,
piano, and drums. An inspiring teacher drew him to the vibes, but, Harris says,
“I’m not really wed to any instrument, I just love music. If it weren’t vibes
I’d be playing something else.”
That
said, Harris is a virtuoso vibraphonist. But one hearing of The Grand Unification Theory or his
latest album, Evolution, tells you
his music is not about the instrument. In fact, he says, “there are quite a few
times when I didn’t want to be on it at all but you get pressure from the
record company that you need to be on the track.”
His
influences are the usual suspects.
“I
can remember at Eastman [School of Music — he attended for one year,
1991-1992] being introduced to a lot of jazz,” he says. “I got a record called Things are Getting Better by Milt
Jackson and Cannonball Adderley. I transcribed almost every note Milt Jackson
played on that record. He is definitely a major influence.”
Harris,
who went on to earn a degree in classical percussion at the Manhattan School of
Music, is also inspired by Hutcherson and Lionel Hampton. “Hampton’s rhythm is
phenomenal; it’s really complex to try to play some of his solos and imitate
the feel.”
Not
surprisingly, his influences go beyond jazz to Igor Stravinsky and, in what he
describes as his current “elegant phase,” Beethoven and Bach.
Then
there are those other areas of interest.
“It’s
an amazing world we live in and there are a lot of things that fascinate me,”
Harris says. “I have a lot of goals outside of music that I would like to
accomplish in my lifetime. My ultimate pursuit is that of happiness. Music
brings me great happiness right now, but if there were ever a period of time
when music didn’t do that, I wouldn’t play. And I don’t think I would miss it.
It’s something that’s incredible and I’m getting a lot out of it, but there are
other things that I think are incredible that I could get a lot out of.”
Like
languages. He’s recently been studying Spanish.
While playing
can be a workout for any musician, the vibes demand an unusual level of energy.
“The
music is very physical, it’s like dance,” he says. “I find that if I can get to
a complete state of relaxation through my entire body, I play very well. When I
play a certain type of gesture, if I can visualize it and then move in a way
that articulates that gesture, it’s going to help the notes be more articulate.
If I sat still and only moved my wrists when I played, the music is going to
sound a little stiff. So the physical is an extension of the musicality.”
One
lesson he is sure to share with Penfield students: practice the fundamentals.
“My
theory about learning to play an instrument and improvising is you have to work
on all possible scenarios — a half-step, a whole step, a minor third — you
need to do all the variations so that if you hear it, you’ve already done it so
many times you don’t need to think about it,” Harris says. “Then you can get
beyond thinking about notes and you can think in terms of gesture and dance.”
There
are other complexities to his improvisational style.
“I
think a lot in terms of communication with other musicians on the bandstand and
also in terms of shape,” he says. “I’m a very visual improviser. I see shapes
and then I twist them and manipulate them and spread them out as opposed to
playing lines.”
Harris
cites two jazz artists who he believes worked especially well with shape.
“Certainly
Coltrane where he’s taking very simple structures and moving them around
through the changes. Keith Jarrett has a great sense of melody, so sometimes
the shape is hidden, or the melody is so strong that you’re not even perceiving
it as a shape.”
Although
Harris is finding success in jazz, he has what he terms an “Armageddon
Theory” when it comes to the business. And it keeps him on his toes.
“I’m
on Blue Note now and I’m making records now, but anything can happen tomorrow,”
he says. “This is a huge opportunity for me to travel the world, and learn. My
mind is fresh right now; I’m in great shape physically. Every year of my life
has been better than the previous one, so my mentality is, I’m not going to
waste it.”
To
Harris, wasting this opportunity would mean not taking chances.
“That’s
why I’m not going to do a bunch of standards. If I’m going to make a record
with a quartet I can make that on my own,” he says. “If I’m on Blue Note and
I’m going to get the publicity and the distribution, I’m going to take
advantage of a larger budget than I could probably have on my own and I’m going
to make records like TheGrand Unification Theory.”
And
despite his place at the top of the polls, he remains self-critical.
“I
also feel like there’s a certain level that I have to get to and I’m not there
and it’s very frustrating for me,” he says. “I feel like I want to get there
while the spotlight is on me. So it’s definitely a race against time for me.”
Stefon Harris plays with
various local student ensembles at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, February 4
and 5, at Penfield High School. Special guests include the Eastman School of
Music’s John Beck and Howard Potter, Nazareth College’s Kristen Shiner-McGuire,
Penfield teacher John Bagale, and local musician Brad Paxton. Tickets: $10
adults; $6 students available at Penfield High’s music office, The Bop Shop,
Muzet, American Music, and the Penfield and Webster branches of Canandaigua
National Bank, which sponsors the Penfield/CNB Jazz Series.
This article appears in Feb 2-8, 2005.
