Biography
FREDERICK HARRIS - pianist, composer, drummer, educator, has done
extensive work as concert and jazz pianist, music director, educator
and coach in S.F. bay area. He has performed with Dizzy Gillespie,
Billy Higgins, Charlie Haden, Albert “Tootie” Heath, Rebecca Parris,
Kurt Elling, Chico Freeman, Billy Hart, and others, as well as bay
area artists, including The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol, ex-bay area
trumpeter Eddie Henderson, Eddie Marshall, Madeline Eastman and Dr.
Margie Baker. He is a recitalist, recently doing concerts and master
classes in Arizona (USA) sponsored by Sherman Clay/
Steinway&Sons, with engagements pending in Portland, OR (USA).
He has toured extensively in the U.S. and abroad, with Idris
Ackamoor, the St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church, and with
Chico Freeman/The LEADERS. Frederick is also a recipient of the 2007
Cultural Equity Grant For Individual Artists from the San Francisco
Arts Commission. Blastin’ Barriers: From Beethoven Through Bebop And
Beyond is the first of a new series of piano performances, exploring
the interrelationships of varying musical genres at the keyboard,
and is a continuation of the concerts Frederick offered in Az, with
Steinway.
For the last 15 years has been arranger/co-music director with Idris
Ackamoor and Cultural Odyssey, having recorded 3 albums and
performed in numerous productions and tours. Other arranging work
includes such for The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol and other bay area
artists. In addition to his work with Cultural Odyssey, he has been
a Minister of Music/co musical director at the St. John Coltrane
African Orthodox Church (SF) for 16 years. His experience in musical
theater includes over 20 years of rehearsal/stage piano and
percussion (drum set) work in various theater houses in the bay area
(USA) and Rochester, NY(USA), including Theaterworks, the Lorraine
Hansberry Theater and the California Theater Center. Has also been
Music Director for professional and high school musical productions,
including the FANTASTICKS at the California Theater Company (‘05),
and at Mercy High School, SF (CA, USA), since 2005.
As an educator, he has taught music in a wide range of institutions
for more than 15 years. His current faculty positions include the
Stanford Jazz Workshop (Stanford University) and RCI’s Jazz Camp
West. He has also taught and performed in a range of community-based
programs, from churches to workshops in schools, under Stanford Jazz
Workshop, Center For Urban Arts, Hills Bros. Coffee, Cultural
Odyssey, Black Repertory Group, St. John Coltrane A.O.C. and other
organizations. In addition to his teaching at Stanford, he has also
taught at San Jose State University, and teaches privately.
Frederick holds B.M. and M.M. degrees in Piano Performance from the
San Francisco Conservatory of Music.