Dr. Nelson Harrison

Male

Pittsburgh, PA

United States

Profile Information:

Favorite website

http://jazzhoprevolution.com

Favorite blog

http://www.novacopia.org

Pittsburgh Connection

Born raised and embedded in Pittsburgh. Crescent Elementary, Baxter Jr. High, Westinghouse High and University of Pittsburgh.

Favorite Pittsburgh musicians/performers

Pittsburgh musicians are the best in the world. There are too many to name especially since I have played here for 50+ years. I have had the honor and privilege of playing with a few of the legends of Pittsburgh, e.g., Billy Eckstine, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Kenny Clarke, Art Blakey, Stanley Turrentine, Sam Johnson, Joe Harris, J.C. Moses, Dakota Staton, Lena Horne, Grover Mitchell and Walt Harper.. My mentoring came from Warren Watson, Joe Westray, Carl Arter, Eddie "Rabbit" Barnes, Sam Hurt, Harold & Jerry Betters, Jerry Elliot, Bobby Jones, Art Nance, Cecil Brooks II, Bobby Boswell and Ahmad Jamal. My teachers were Fanetta Gordon, Carl McVicker, Sr. and Matty Shiner. My favorite pianist of all is Ahmad Jamal. If I went further to include my peer group down through the young lions of today I would run out of space.

Favorite Jazz Radio or media station

WZUM, WYEP (blues), WRCT

Favorite Pittsburgh Jazz Venue

The Crawford Grill #2 is my favorite stage to play in the entire world. There was also the Midway Lounge, the Hurricane, the Diplomat, the Ebony Lounge, the Crescendo, the Rendevous, the Florentine, the Loendi Club, the Local #471 Musicians' Club in S'Liberty, Horseley's, the Loft, Ramseys II, the Pirate Inn, the Copa, the Encore I & II, the Pink Cloud, the Pitt Pot, the Black Magic, the Tiger's Tail, the Zebra Room, etc. to bring back a few memories of the erstwhile clubs.

About Me:

Ph. D. in clinical psychology, educator, composer, archivist, lyricist, arranger, ASCAP, playwright, speaker, photographer; veteran trombonist of the Count Basie Orchestra featuring Joe Williams, Sarah Vaughan, Helen Humes, Joe Turner, Eddie Vinson, Dennis Rowland (‘78-80 incl. Japan tour); played with Dionne Warwicke, The Supremesm The Spinners, Eddie Kendricks, and The Temptations (’64), Joe Westray, Brooke Benton, Earl Grant, Mary Wells (1962 – 72); Sonny and the Premiers (1963 – 67); Walt Harper (1967-70); Brook Benton, Earl Grant, Chuck Jackson, Gene Ludwig, James Brown (’67-68); Nathan Davis (1970-75); Lena Horne and Tony Bennett (‘74), Don Byas, Billy Eckstine and Earl "Fatha" Hines (1975), Marva Josie, Martha Reeves, Barry White ('76), Kenny Clarke (‘79), Liberace (’77), Nancy Wilson and Melba Moore (’78), J.C. Heard, Charlie Gabriel, Marcus Belgrave ('78), Sammy Davis, Jr. and Aretha Franklin (’79 & 2015), Perry Como and Johnny Mathis (‘80), Bobby Vinton (’81), Ginger Rogers, Jerry Butler, Teddy Pendergrass, George Gobel, Red Skelton, the Smothers Brothers, Joan Rivers, Lola Falana, Donna Summer, Engelbert Humperdinck and Glenn Campbell (’82), Jay McShann (‘87), Slide Hampton (‘86), Nelson Riddle (’84) Al Cohn, Marvin Hamlisch (’97) and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in New Orleans (’98) Irma Thomas, also Jimmy Owens, Joe Lastie, Gerald French, John Clayton, Bobby Plater, Freddie Green, Cleveland Eaton, Gerald Wilson, Stanley Turrentine, Tommy Turrentine, Dr. David Baker, Butch Miles, Duffy Jackson, Karlton Hester, Arnett Cobb, Pauly Cohen, Ramon Morris, Geri Allen, Jothan Callins, Donald Byrd, Freddie Redd, Larry Ridley, Jack McDuff, J.C. Moses, Nathan East, Andy Bey ('77), Nathan Davis ('70-'75) to name only a few; inventor of the "Trombetto," a compact brass instrument with four valves that plays a chromatic range of six octaves with a trombone mouthpiece; played at festivals in New Orleans, London, Edinburg, Sacramento, New York City, Seattle; clinics and lectures in Santa Cruz and San Jose, CA, Quebec City and Montreal, Canada, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, New York and Toronto; scores written to movies by Georg Sanford Brown and John Russo and plays by Richard Wright, August Wilson and Rob Penny; lyricist of 125 bop standards; featured horn soloist avec vocalese with the Pittsburgh Connection Big Band at the 2007 IAJE Convention in NYC; nationally recognized expert on Pittsburgh jazz history.

Currently active in Pittsburgh with The Blues Orphans, Wee Jams, Studio-E Band, George Gee Orchestra, the Boilermaker Jazz Band and my own The World According to Bop, Jazz ‘N Jive, Dr. Jazz and the Salty Dawgs, Blue to the Bone, and Nelson Harrison and Associates and Ronnie Jones and Jazz Conversations.

Discography: Live at the Attic (1969) with the Walt Harper Quintet (Birmingham Label); Makatuka (1970) (Segue Label) and Suite for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1971) (Tomorrow International Label) with Nathan Davis; Kansas City Shout (1980) with the Count Basie Orchestra (Pablo Label); On A Coconut Island( 1993), Don't Give Up the Ship (1995), Burgundy Street Blues (1996) and Honky Tonk Town (1997) with the Boilermaker Jazz Band (Biograph Label); Tuesday Night at James Street (2002) with the RH Factor, Don’t Give Up (2003) with the Roger Humphries Big Band; Moonlit River (2003) songs by Fred Moolten, (MGO Media Label); 21st-Century Musicism (2005) compositions by Karlton E. Hester (Hesteria Records); If I Can’t Dance, It’s Not My Revolution (2006) Anne Feeney; Schism ‘n Blues (2005) & Root Rot (2007) with the Blues Orphans (Staggerin’ Fitz Label) which are the first commercial recordings of the trombetto, Not from Concentrate (2007) Genie Walker & Harmonique (Hip Tip Label).

He is is cited in the Marquis publication Who’s Who in the East (1979, The Jazz Men by Larry Tye, Mariner Books (2024)and August Wilson: A Life by Patti Hartigan, Simon & Schuster (2023); received the Renaissance Too Magazine Professional Men in Jazz Award (1989) and the East Liberty Hall of Fame (1991), the Westinghouse High School Hall of Fame (1995), Evolution of Jazz: Bridging the Gap Mentors Award (2006), the Walt Harper All That Jazz Award (2008), the Legacy Arts Project Keepers of the Flame Award (2008), the Build the Hill Award (2008) and the MCG Jazz Pittsburgh Legends of Jazz Award (2008), African American Council on the Arts Rob Penny Lifetime Achievement Award (2009), Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) Jazz Heroes Award (2015).

Blogs:
http://www.jjajazzawards.org/p/blog-page.html
http://oldmonmusic.blogspot.com/2009/12/dr-nelson-harrison.html
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cres-oneal/2010/06/16/dr-nelson-harrison
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theremix/2009/05/30/dr-nelson-harrison...
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/musicwoman/2008/10/01/metaphysics-of-m...
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/soulutionsradio/2009/07/06/dr-nelson-h...

Website:

http://www.pittsburghartistregistry.org/drjazz

Artist or Fan

artist, fan, industry professional, student, media

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