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Professional performer with a lovely eccentricity. Spent time watching her about 20 years ago during rehearsals and performances and chatting during food breaks day and night. Happy to see her success.

Billy Harper alert! Three concerts upcoming in June, in Houston and Austin. June 14, 2024: Billy Harper Quintet, Eldorado Ballroom, Houston June 15, 2024: Billy Harper Quintet, Monk's Jazz Club, Austin June 16, 2024: Billy Harper Quintet, Stateside Theater, Austin   Epistrophy Arts & The State Theatre present BILLY HARPER QUINTET   The State Theatre Sunday, June 16, 2024 Doors: 6pm Show: 7pm In his early recordings and performances with leaders such as Art Blakey, Lee Morgan, Max Roach, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Randy Weston and Gil Evans, during the 60s and 70s, Billy Harper already had a massive sound on the tenor saxophone, combining John Coltrane’s spiraling intensity with a bluesy brawn that pointed back to his Texas origins. Harper’s authority has only grown with age: a half-century on, he stands as one of the most commanding horn men on the planet, a pillar of stirring post-bop jazz whose robust back catalog seems long overdue for rediscovery. For half a century he has been performing his original music with the renowned Billy Harper Quintet all over the globe, and recording over a dozen albums as a leader and prolific composer. After a pandemic induced hiatus, the Quintet sprung back into action, starting 2023 off with a series of #CapraBlackIsBack performances, marking a year long celebration of Billy Harper's 80th birthday, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the group's official inception and their historic debut album Capra Black, the impact of which still lingers among jazz listeners worldwide. Francesca Tanksley has been the pianist in this group for more than 40 years – a clear attestation of the wide ranging concensus that her extraordinary musicality cannot be matched nor replaced when it comes to Billy Harper’s opus. Renowned master drummer Aaron Scott, a longtime member of McCoy Tyner’s band, has also been in the group for decades and is a rare find among jazz drummers who can meet and surpass the challenge of doing Harper’s music justice. Freddie Hendrix, one of the most in-demand jazz trumpeters of today, coveted for his uniquely soulful and exciting improvisations is also a longstanding member. Finally, a newer but nevertheless perfectly matched addition to the group is the award-winning bassist Dezron Douglas whose artistry on the strings brings Harper’s compositions to a whole new level.

Congrats!!! A few quick reactions to reading this thread. 1) he recorded a lot of music for Blue Note!  A lot of his contemporaries would have dreamed of that opportunity (though I am guessing it might have been low-paying, high volume) 2) For a guy with his “stylistic comfort zone”, he got to record across a very wide range of contexts!  I don’t think they were holding him back in that respect. 3) His batting average over a very large number of recordings is quite high Fwiw, it’s interesting that until John McLaughlin came on the scene there was no big-name post bebop guitarist, in contrast to other major jazz instruments.  GG was the guy that BN chose to experiment with that space. Don’t we have more recorded evidence of GG in adventurous contexts than WM?  I think it’s telling that WM quickly left JC’s band, it’s hard to imagine him fitting in with most of their post-1960 recordings.