Event Details (U.S. National Park Service)

★

Special Event

Fee:

Free.

Dates & Times

Date:

Thursday, February 25, 2021

Time:

2:00 PM

Duration:

1 hour

Type of Event

Performance

Virtual/Digital

Description

New Orleans JAZZ NHP celebrates Black History Month

featuring

The Donald Harrison Quintet

“Iko Iko”

Every February during Black History Month and throughout the year, the National Park Service share stories, rich culture, and an invitation for all Americans to reflect on Black history in parks and communities across the country. More than 400 years of Black history and heritage—including achievements, contributions, and historical journeys—are remembered and commemorated in places preserved for current and future generations.

Here, at the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, we know that the uniquely American artform of Jazz would never have developed without the contributions and experiences of African Americans. And we treasure the native New Orleanians who keep this musical tradition alive.

Big Chief Donald Harrison, the New Orleans born saxophonist, is a musician/composer who master musicians consider an expert of every era of jazz, soul, funk, and a composer of orchestral classical music. Harrison honed his experience playing with Roy Haynes, Art Blakey, Eddie Palmieri, Dr. John, Lena Horne, McCoy Tyner, Dr. Eddie Henderson, Miles Davis, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Chuck Loeb, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Digable Planets, Guru’s Jazzmatazz, The Headhunters, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and The Notorious BIG.

He has performed with over 200 jazz masters and created three influential styles of jazz. At the age of nineteen, Harrison created a modern jazz take on the New Orleans second-line tradition and introduced his composition New York Second-Line to the jazz world in 1979. By the mid-’80s, he created Nouveau Swing, a distinctive sound that blended the swing beat of modern jazz with hip-hop, funk, and soul music. In the ’90s, Harrison recorded hits in the smooth jazz genre. He began exploring music through the lens of quantum physics in 2000. With quantum jazz, Harrison heard how to move music from a two-dimensional state into a four-dimensional state. Harrison has been a mentor to artist as diverse as The Notorious Big, Jonathon Batiste, Christian Scott, Trombone Shorty, and Esperanza Spaulding.

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