International Jazz Workshop

Each year the Taller de Musicos de Madrid offers a weeklong workshop in Jazz piano and improvisation (for all instruments) under the guidance of the internationally renowned pianist Barry Harris.

Barry, apart from a brilliant career as a performing artist, has been a dedicated teacher for more than fifty years and is considered worldwide to be the number one expert in Bebop, the language of Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk, the foundation of all modern Jazz.

Barry harris was born in Detroit (USA) on 15 December 1929. His mother being a pianist, he starts playing music very young. In 1945 he won the first prize at the Paradise Theater contest. From that moment on he started playing in clubs and concert halls in his hometown.

In 1954 he was hired as the house pianist at the Blue Bird Club where he plays with Pepper Adams, Paul Chambers, the Jones brothers, Donald Byrd, Billy Mitchell Doug Watkins and Miles Davis. He even sat in on a few occasions with Charlie Parker.

After that he works with the Max Roach quintet, making his first recording as a sideman.

After staying in New York for a while he goes back to Detroit to play with Roy Eldrige and Ben Webster.

In 1958 he makes his first record in trio with William Austin and Frank Grant as well as Quincy Jones Big Band, Benny Golson and Philly Joe Jones.

Apart form his trio, Barry Harris also has worked with other groups, he has collaborated with Dexter Gordon, Lee Morgan, Coleman Hawkins, Kenny Dorham, Elvin Jones and Ron Carter. At the end of the sixties he recorded a record with other great pianists like Cedar Walton, Kenny Drew, Jimmy Rowles, Lou Levy and Duke Jordan.

Nowadays Barry Harris gives workshops in jazz improvisation all over the world. He has been coming to the Taller de Músicos de Madrid every year since 1986.