BRM Weekly: Joel Harrison

Guitarist, composer, arranger, lyricist, writer, educator, and vocalist Joel Harrison joins us to discuss his work with sarod player and composer Anupam Shobhakar and their collaborative works “Multiplicity” and “Still Point: Turning World.” Harrison will dive into the complexities of navigating the space between the two cultures of jazz and Indian music and share with audiences the practical, philosophical, and musical lessons garnered in this creative journey.

About Joel Harrison

Guitarist, composer, arranger, lyricist, writer, educator, and vocalist Joel Harrison has “created a new blueprint for jazz” (New Orleans Times-Picayune). A Guggenheim Fellow (2010) whose compositions have been commissioned by Chamber Music America, Meet the Composer, New Music USA, the Jerome Foundation, NYSCA, and the Mary Flagler Cary Trust.

Harrison is a native of Washington D.C. His twenty-two releases as a leader showcase works for orchestra, string quartet, solo cello, and percussion as well as the PASIC award-winning marimba solo Fear of Silence. Notable releases include three editions of Free Country, featuring Norah Jones, David Binney, Everett Bradley, and Tony Cedras; Spirit House with Brian Blade; the recent America at War for jazz orchestra; String Choir: The Music of Paul Motian; and Search, a septet affair featuring Donny McCaslin; and Still Point Turning World (Whirlwind) a meeting of jazz, Indian and classical musicians feat. Anupam Shobhakar, Ben Wendel, Talujon Percussion and V. Selvaganesh. Harrison’s music may be founded on jazz but veers into classical, rock, country, and all manner of American roots music. Succinctly described by the New York Times as “protean… brilliant,” he is also an active film composer, having worked on the Oscar-nominated Traffic Stop and the Sundance awardee Southern Comfort. A former student of Jimmy Wyble and Mick Goodrick, as well as Allaudin Mathieu and Joan Tower, Harrison is the founder and director of the Alternative Guitar Summit, a yearly festival devoted to new and unusual guitar music. Pat Metheny has called the Summit “one of the most interesting and distinguished forums for guitar on the planet.”

www.joelharrison.com

This event will be streamed live on BRM's Youtube.