Eric Harland
Encyclopedia
Eric Harland is an American jazz drummer.
Besides leading his own group Harland has performed with many renowned artists, including Wynton Marsalis
, McCoy Tyner
, Joe Henderson
, Joshua Redman
, Ravi Coltrane
, Kenny Garrett
, Dave Holland
, Charles Lloyd, Michael Brecker
, Terence Blanchard
, Walter Smith III
, Chris Potter
, Aaron Parks
, Aaron Goldberg
, Taylor Eigsti
, Julian Lage
, Kurt Rosenwinkel
, John Patitucci
, and Zakir Hussain
, among others.
He is also a member of the SFJAZZ Collective
.
, Texas
as he finished high school at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
, where many of today's stars have studied. Harland won first chair in 1992-1993 with the Regional and All State Texas Jazz Band. He received a special Citation for Outstanding Musicianship in 1994 from the International Association of Jazz Educators. During a workshop in high school, Wynton Marsalis
encouraged Harland to study in New York City.
After graduation, he attended the Manhattan School of Music
with a full scholarship in their music program. After music school he went on to study Theology at Houston Baptist University (College of Biblical Studies) to become an ordained Minister.
Harland has been featured on over 80 recordings with various artists. Among these recordings, Let's Get Lost and Wandering Moon (Terence Blanchard
), Back East (Joshua Redman
), and Land Of Giants (McCoy Tyner
) were nominated for Grammy Awards. With Terence Blanchard
and Spike Lee
, Harland has performed on 18 motion picture movie scores including The Caveman's Valentine
, Original Sin
, People I Know
, and Dark Blue.
In Down Beat
s 65th Annual Readers Poll, Harland was included on the short list of world's most recognized drummers along with Elvin Jones
and Roy Haynes
. He also won the 2008 and 2009 Critics Polls for Rising Star on the drums. Harland was featured in the September 2002 and November 2009 issues of Modern Drummer
.
Harland released his debut album, Voyager: Live By Night in late 2010. It features Walter Smith III
, Taylor Eigsti
, Julian Lage
, and Harish Raghavan.
With Aaron Parks
With Taylor Eigsti
With Walter Smith III
With McCoy Tyner
With The Monterey Quartet
With Terence Blanchard
With Dave Holland
With Joshua Redman
With Kenny Garrett
With The 3 Cohens
With Jimmy Greene
With Joel Weiskopf
With John Swana
With Aaron Goldberg
With Kurt Rosenwinkel
With Edward Simon
With Greg Osby
With The SFJAZZ Collective
With Dayne Stephens
Besides leading his own group Harland has performed with many renowned artists, including Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
, McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...
, Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than forty years Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent labels, including Blue Note.-Early life:From a very large family with five sisters and nine...
, Joshua Redman
Joshua Redman
Joshua Redman is an American jazz saxophonist and composer who records for Nonesuch Records. He won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1991.-Biography:...
, Ravi Coltrane
Ravi Coltrane
Ravi Coltrane is an American post-bop jazz saxophonist. Co-owner of the record label RKM Music, he has produced artists such as pianist Luis Perdomo , guitarist David Gilmore and trumpeter Ralph Alessi....
, Kenny Garrett
Kenny Garrett
Kenny Garrett is a Grammy Award-winning American post bop jazz saxophonist and flautist who gained fame in his youth as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and of Miles Davis's band. He has since pursued a critically acclaimed solo career...
, Dave Holland
Dave Holland
Dave Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for 40 years....
, Charles Lloyd, Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
, Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard
Terence Oliver Blanchard is an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer. Since he emerged on the scene in 1980 with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and then shortly thereafter with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Blanchard has been a leading artist in jazz...
, Walter Smith III
Walter Smith III
Walter Smith III is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Walter Smith III has garnered notoriety by playing with some of the biggest names in Jazz, such as trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard, Roy Haynes, Christian McBride, Mulgrew Miller, and Joe Lovano. Also, he has toured with R&B artists such as...
, Chris Potter
Chris Potter (jazz saxophonist)
Chris Potter is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Potter spent most of his childhood in Columbia, South Carolina where his mother taught psychology at the University of South Carolina...
, Aaron Parks
Aaron Parks
Aaron Parks is a jazz pianist.-Personal:Aaron entered the University of Washington at the age of 14 through the Transition School and Early Entrance Program as a double major in computer science and music...
, Aaron Goldberg
Aaron Goldberg
Aaron Goldberg is a jazz pianist based in New York City. He began studying piano at seven and studied under Bob Sinicrope of Milton Academy and saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi...
, Taylor Eigsti
Taylor Eigsti
Taylor Eigsti is an American jazz pianist and composer.A former child prodigy, Eigsti started studying piano at age four. He recorded his first album at age 14...
, Julian Lage
Julian Lage
Julian Lage is an American jazz guitarist and composer.A former child prodigy, Lage began performing in public at the age of six. His talent led him to be the subject of the 1997 Academy Award nominated documentary Jules at Eight. At age 13 Lage performed at the 2000 Grammy Awards...
, Kurt Rosenwinkel
Kurt Rosenwinkel
Kurt Rosenwinkel is an American jazz guitarist and keyboardist who came to prominence in the 1990s.-Biography:He attended the Berklee School of Music for two and a half years before leaving in his junior year to tour with Gary Burton, the dean of the school at the time...
, John Patitucci
John Patitucci
John Patitucci is an American Grammy-winning jazz double bass and jazz fusion electric bass player.-Biography:Patitucci is of Italian descent and was born in Brooklyn, New York, where he began playing the electric bass at age ten, composing and performing at age 12, as well as the acoustic bass at...
, and Zakir Hussain
Zakir Hussain (musician)
Zakir Hussain , , is an Indian tabla player, musical producer, film actor and composer.-Early life:Hussain was born in Mumbai, India to the legendary tabla player Alla Rakha. He attended St...
, among others.
He is also a member of the SFJAZZ Collective
SFJAZZ Collective
The SFJAZZ Collective is a jazz ensemble comprising eight performer/composers. Launched in 2004 by , a West Coast non-profit jazz institution and the presenter of the annual San Francisco Jazz Festival, with funding from the James Irvine Foundation, the Collective was critically acclaimed by The...
.
Biography
Harland began his professional career in 1993 playing locally in HoustonHouston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
as he finished high school at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts is a secondary school located at 4001 Stanford Street in the Montrose district of Houston, Texas. The school is a part of the Houston Independent School District....
, where many of today's stars have studied. Harland won first chair in 1992-1993 with the Regional and All State Texas Jazz Band. He received a special Citation for Outstanding Musicianship in 1994 from the International Association of Jazz Educators. During a workshop in high school, Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
encouraged Harland to study in New York City.
After graduation, he attended the Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
with a full scholarship in their music program. After music school he went on to study Theology at Houston Baptist University (College of Biblical Studies) to become an ordained Minister.
Harland has been featured on over 80 recordings with various artists. Among these recordings, Let's Get Lost and Wandering Moon (Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard
Terence Oliver Blanchard is an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer. Since he emerged on the scene in 1980 with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and then shortly thereafter with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Blanchard has been a leading artist in jazz...
), Back East (Joshua Redman
Joshua Redman
Joshua Redman is an American jazz saxophonist and composer who records for Nonesuch Records. He won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1991.-Biography:...
), and Land Of Giants (McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...
) were nominated for Grammy Awards. With Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard
Terence Oliver Blanchard is an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer. Since he emerged on the scene in 1980 with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and then shortly thereafter with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Blanchard has been a leading artist in jazz...
and Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
, Harland has performed on 18 motion picture movie scores including The Caveman's Valentine
The Caveman's Valentine
The Caveman's Valentine is a 2001 American mystery-drama film directed by Kasi Lemmons and starring Samuel L. Jackson based on George Dawes Green's novel of the same name. The film was released by Universal Focus, a subsidiary of Universal Studios and Focus Features.-Plot:A former family man and...
, Original Sin
Original Sin (film)
Original Sin is a 2001 movie starring Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas. It is based on the novel Waltz into Darkness by Cornell Woolrich, and is a remake of the 1969 Francois Truffaut film Mississippi Mermaid...
, People I Know
People I Know
People I Know is a 2002 crime drama film directed by Daniel Algrant and stars Al Pacino, Kim Basinger, and Téa Leoni.-Plot:Eli Wurman is a Jewish publicist on the out, but all he knows is how to hustle and cajole, threaten and persuade. The hazy mania of his everyday life is fuelled by a steady...
, and Dark Blue.
In Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
s 65th Annual Readers Poll, Harland was included on the short list of world's most recognized drummers along with Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
and Roy Haynes
Roy Haynes
Roy Owen Haynes is an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Haynes is among the most recorded drummers in jazz, and in a career lasting more than 60 years has played in a wide range of styles ranging from swing and bebop to jazz fusion and avant-garde jazz...
. He also won the 2008 and 2009 Critics Polls for Rising Star on the drums. Harland was featured in the September 2002 and November 2009 issues of Modern Drummer
Modern Drummer
Modern Drummer is a monthly publication targeting the interests of on drummers and percussionists. The magazine features interviews, equipment reviews, and columns offering advice on technique, as well as information for the general public...
.
Harland released his debut album, Voyager: Live By Night in late 2010. It features Walter Smith III
Walter Smith III
Walter Smith III is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Walter Smith III has garnered notoriety by playing with some of the biggest names in Jazz, such as trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard, Roy Haynes, Christian McBride, Mulgrew Miller, and Joe Lovano. Also, he has toured with R&B artists such as...
, Taylor Eigsti
Taylor Eigsti
Taylor Eigsti is an American jazz pianist and composer.A former child prodigy, Eigsti started studying piano at age four. He recorded his first album at age 14...
, Julian Lage
Julian Lage
Julian Lage is an American jazz guitarist and composer.A former child prodigy, Lage began performing in public at the age of six. His talent led him to be the subject of the 1997 Academy Award nominated documentary Jules at Eight. At age 13 Lage performed at the 2000 Grammy Awards...
, and Harish Raghavan.
Endorsements
Harland currently plays Yamaha Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, Remo Drumheads, and Vic Firth Sticks.As Sideman
With Charles LloydCharles Lloyd
Charles Lloyd is an American jazz musician. Though he primarily plays tenor saxophone and flute, he has also occasionally recorded on alto saxophone and more exotic reed instruments which include the Hungarian tárogató. Lloyd's saxophone playing is often characterized as an individualized,...
- Jumping The Creek
- SangamSangam (album)-Track listing:# "Dancing on One Foot" - 9:04# "Tales of Rumi" - 11:58# "Sangam" - 9:20# "Nataraj" - 2:47# "Guman" - 11:40# "Tender Warriors" - 8:56# "Hymn to the Mother" - 11:49# "Lady in the Harbor" - 3:27# "Little Peace" - 5:53...
- Rabo de NubeRabo de Nube-Track listing:# "Prometheus" - 14:42# "Migration of Spirit" - 10:14# "Booker's Garden" - 14:32# "Ramanujan" - 11:38# "La Colline de Monk" - 4:01# "Sweet Georgia Bright" - 12:16# "Rabo de Nube" - 7:36...
- MirrorMirror (Charles Lloyd album)-Track listing:# "I Fall in Love Too Easily" - 5:00# "Go Down Moses" - 5:59# "Desolation Sound" - 7:03# "La Llorona" - 5:35# "Caroline, No" - 4:02...
- Athens ConcertAthens Concert-Track listing:Disc One:# "Kratissa Ti Zoi Mou" - 5:59# "Dream Weaver" - 8:10# "Blow Wind" - 5:34# "Requiem" - 5:57# "Greek Suite Part 1: Hymnos Stin Ayia Triada" - - 4:03...
With Aaron Parks
Aaron Parks
Aaron Parks is a jazz pianist.-Personal:Aaron entered the University of Washington at the age of 14 through the Transition School and Early Entrance Program as a double major in computer science and music...
- Invisible CinemaInvisible CinemaInvisible Cinema is an album by jazz pianist and composer Aaron Parks, that was released on the Blue Note label on August 19, 2008. The album is Parks' debut for Blue Note.-Track listing:# "Travelers"# "Peaceful Warrior"# "Nemesis"...
With Taylor Eigsti
Taylor Eigsti
Taylor Eigsti is an American jazz pianist and composer.A former child prodigy, Eigsti started studying piano at age four. He recorded his first album at age 14...
- Lucky To Be Me
- Let It Come To You
With Walter Smith III
Walter Smith III
Walter Smith III is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Walter Smith III has garnered notoriety by playing with some of the biggest names in Jazz, such as trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard, Roy Haynes, Christian McBride, Mulgrew Miller, and Joe Lovano. Also, he has toured with R&B artists such as...
- Casually Introducing Walter Smith lll
- III
With McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...
- Land of GiantsLand of GiantsLand of Giants is an album by McCoy Tyner released on the Telarc label in 2003. It was recorded in December 2002 and features performances of by Tyner with Bobby Hutcherson, Charnett Moffett, and Eric Harland...
With The Monterey Quartet
- Live at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival
With Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard
Terence Oliver Blanchard is an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer. Since he emerged on the scene in 1980 with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and then shortly thereafter with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Blanchard has been a leading artist in jazz...
- Let's Get Lost
- Wandering Moon
- BounceBounce (Terence Blanchard album)Bounce is a 2003 jazz album by Terence Blanchard, released through Blue Note.- Background :Bounce is the Blue Note recording debut of trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard. The album is a mix of the sounds of Africa, Brazil and America, with the styles of swing, hard bop, free form, groove and...
With Dave Holland
Dave Holland
Dave Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for 40 years....
- Pass It OnPass It On"Pass It On" is a song by The Coral, which was taken as the second single taken from their 2003 album, Magic and Medicine. "Pass It On" is The Coral's highest charting single to date, reaching number five in the UK Singles Chart...
With Joshua Redman
Joshua Redman
Joshua Redman is an American jazz saxophonist and composer who records for Nonesuch Records. He won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1991.-Biography:...
- Back EastBack East- Track listing :# "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top" # "East of the Sun " # "Zarafah" # "Indian Song" # "I'm an Old Cowhand" # "Wagon Wheels"...
- James Farm
With Kenny Garrett
Kenny Garrett
Kenny Garrett is a Grammy Award-winning American post bop jazz saxophonist and flautist who gained fame in his youth as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and of Miles Davis's band. He has since pursued a critically acclaimed solo career...
- Standard Of Language
With The 3 Cohens
- Braid
With Jimmy Greene
- Gift and Givers
- True Life Stories
With Joel Weiskopf
- Devoted To You
With John Swana
- On Target
With Aaron Goldberg
Aaron Goldberg
Aaron Goldberg is a jazz pianist based in New York City. He began studying piano at seven and studied under Bob Sinicrope of Milton Academy and saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi...
- Tuning Point
- Unfolding
With Kurt Rosenwinkel
Kurt Rosenwinkel
Kurt Rosenwinkel is an American jazz guitarist and keyboardist who came to prominence in the 1990s.-Biography:He attended the Berklee School of Music for two and a half years before leaving in his junior year to tour with Gary Burton, the dean of the school at the time...
- The RemedyThe Remedy (Kurt Rosenwinkel album)The Remedy is Kurt Rosenwinkel's seventh album as a leader and his first project with ArtistShare. It is a 2-disc album recorded live at the Village Vanguard in January 2006...
With Edward Simon
- The Process
With Greg Osby
Greg Osby
Greg Osby is an American jazz saxophonist who plays mainly in the free jazz, free funk and M-Base idioms.-Biography:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Osby studied at Howard University, where he majored in Jazz Studies, and then at the Berklee College of Music, with Andy McGhee...
- Further Ado
With The SFJAZZ Collective
SFJAZZ Collective
The SFJAZZ Collective is a jazz ensemble comprising eight performer/composers. Launched in 2004 by , a West Coast non-profit jazz institution and the presenter of the annual San Francisco Jazz Festival, with funding from the James Irvine Foundation, the Collective was critically acclaimed by The...
- SF Jazz Collective Live 2005
- SF Jazz Collective Live 2006
- SF Jazz Collective Live 2007
- SF Jazz Collective Live 2008
- SF Jazz Collective Live 2009
With Dayne Stephens
- The Timeless Now
Filmography
- Bo Jangles
- BamboozledBamboozledBamboozled is a 2000 satirical film written and directed by Spike Lee about a modern televised minstrel show featuring black actors donning blackface makeup and the violent fall-out from the show's success...
- Original Sin
- People I KnowPeople I KnowPeople I Know is a 2002 crime drama film directed by Daniel Algrant and stars Al Pacino, Kim Basinger, and Téa Leoni.-Plot:Eli Wurman is a Jewish publicist on the out, but all he knows is how to hustle and cajole, threaten and persuade. The hazy mania of his everyday life is fuelled by a steady...
- The Caveman's ValentineThe Caveman's ValentineThe Caveman's Valentine is a 2001 American mystery-drama film directed by Kasi Lemmons and starring Samuel L. Jackson based on George Dawes Green's novel of the same name. The film was released by Universal Focus, a subsidiary of Universal Studios and Focus Features.-Plot:A former family man and...
- Dark Blue
- Pig Hunt