Although the dark cloud of the recent World
Trade Center attack threatened to stifle the evening, friends
and colleagues of "keeper of the be-bop flame" Barry
Harris made sure the tribute in honor of the music educator was
a celebration.
On Sept. 24, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music honored America’s
unique art form and presented to Harris an unrestricted grant
of $25,000 in a ceremony at Manhattan’s Laura Belle on 43rd Street.
Harris has dedicated his life to teaching music students, many
of who are now famous in their own rights. Among the highlights
of the second annual gala event, held in the sunken banquet hall,
which was swathed in luxurious red velvet, was a joyful, smartly
choreographed performance by the Conservatory’s own African drum
and dance ensemble under the direction of teacher Kenneth Murphy.
There were also performances by famed pianists Tommy Flanagan
and Rodney Kendricks and legendary saxophonist Yusef Lateef.
"After all of this tragedy, we have a spot of love to grow
upon," said Kendricks, a student of Harris’ from the 1980s.
"New Yorkers have been wonderful, but Barry has been wonderful
for 20 years – no, 50 years."
Also banging away at the ivories was a surprise guest, Bill Cosby.
Outgoing president David Rivel set up the comedian’s entrance
by introducing him as "One of Barry Harris’ first piano
students. So long ago – he paid 50 cents a lesson."
The former star of "The Cosby Show," which was filmed
in Midwood on Avenue M and East 14th Street, hammed it up at
the piano: attempting to control his tapping foot, playing the
keys with his elbow, and then playing with one hand behind his
back and the other in his pocket.
Harris wept with laughter at his table, using his linen napkin
to dry his eyes.
After the beloved Jell-O spokesman went down into the audience
and gave the 71-year-old Harris a bear hug, he returned to the
microphone.
"It was very special when I found out they were honoring
you," Cosby said to Harris. "I could think of nothing
better to do to you." Cosby, a drummer with his ensemble,
Cos of Good Music, has performed at the Newport Jazz Festival
but is most famous for his Grammy Award-winning comedy albums.
Fort Greene vocalist Carla Cook presented Harris with a $25,000
award for a "lifetime dedicated to music education."
In addition to training musicians, the Detroit native has played
with Max Roach, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, among others.
At the event, Harris proved his talents by first performing with
his trio (Earl May on bass and Leroy Williams on drums), and
then inviting his adult chorus students to the stage. He was
able to get the whole audience of Conservatory supporters to
create a song out of just a few randomly selected numbers, 6-7-8-3.
Incredibly, by pointing to the audience and calling for tenors
to sing "six," and then tenors "seven," and
basses "three," the whole room was soon jamming.
"I haven’t become rich or nothing," Harris said of
his career of performing and teaching students for modest fees.
"But I’ve become rich in other ways. This award is a blessing."
Harris has been inducted into the American Jazz Hall of Fame,
and has been given a Living Legacy Jazz Award by the Kennedy
Center and a Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for
the Arts. He even founded the Jazz Cultural Center in Chelsea
in 1982. The center hosted classes led by Harris and other musicians,
but was closed by 1987 due to a substantial rent increase.
The tribute was a fundraiser for the Brooklyn Conservatory of
Music’s scholarship fund. The proceeds fund student scholarships
at the Conservatory’s two schools in Park Slope and Flushing,
Queens.
The Conservatory has made great strides over the last seven years
under Rivel’s leadership, according to Conservatory board chairman
Emilie Roy Corey. She said that Rivel will be sorely missed,
but would be remembered with the David Rivel Scholarship Fund.
As of press time, the board has not yet chosen a replacement
for Rivel, who is now executive director of the City Parks Foundation.
According to the Conservatory, more than 120 students will benefit
from $100,000 in scholarship assistance raised at the gala.
The Conservatory, located at 58 Seventh Ave., offers lessons
and classes in classical and jazz styles for all ages and levels.
The Conservatory, founded in 1897, is one of the oldest and largest
non-profit community schools of the arts in the nation.
Harris will conduct an interactive series, "Barry Harris
Cooks Up Family Jazz," Oct. 6, Oct. 20 and Nov. 3 at Manhattan’s
Town Hall. The program is designed for young people to attend
with their parents or grandparents. Harris will include choruses
from Brooklyn’s PS 19, Leon M. Goldstein High School, Claremont
Community Elementary School and PS 299, as well as choruses from
other boroughs. For more information, call (212) 840-2824.
Judging by the way he taught a room of stiff gala patrons to
sing, Harris’ Town Hall performances are sure to be a treat.
