Harris, Jerome (Estese)
Harris, Jerome (Estese)
Harris, Jerome (Estese), jazz electric bassist, guitarist; b. Flushing, Queens, N.Y., April 5, 1953. His formative musical experiences included singing and playing rural and urban blues, folk and gospel music, in addition to the full range of American popular music genres. After studying psychology and social relations at Harvard Univ. (A.B. 1973), Harris attended the New England Cons. of Music as a scholarship student in jazz guitar, studying with George Russell, William Thomas McKinley, Jaki Byard, Phil Wilson, Barry Galbraith, and Sal Salvador, and graduating with honors (B.M.) in 1977. His first major professional performing experience came as bassist with Sonny Rollins in 1978. More recently he has played guitar for Rollins, and has also recorded and/or performed live with Jack DeJohnette, Bobby Previte, Bill Frisell, Oliver Lake, Ray Anderson, Bob Stewart, George Russell, Julius Hemphill, Amina Claudine Myers, Ned Rothenberg, Bob Moses, and many others. Harris’s extensive international touring has included several stints in Japan with Sonny Rollins, as well as U.S. State Department tours of India and the Middle East with Jay Hoggard and of five African nations with Oliver Lake and Jump Up.
—Lewis Porter