Yamaha Signs Jazz Percussionist Stefon Harris
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (April 1, 2005) — Yamaha Corporation of America, Band & Orchestral Division, has recently signed Jazz vibraphonist, marimba player and composer Stefon Harris to its roster of artists.
Thirty-year-old Stefon Harris is one of the most innovative vibraphonists and marimbists performing today. Born in Albany, N.Y., Harris began playing piano when he was six. By the eighth grade, he was able to play nearly 20 instruments, and while in high school earned the principal percussionist chair in the famed Empire State Youth Orchestra. A graduate of Manhattan School of Music, he received a B.M. in Classical Music and an M.M. in Jazz Performance. An active educator, Harris conducts more than 100 clinics and lectures annually at schools and universities throughout the country.
Harris currently plays a Yamaha 5-octave marimba and 3-1/2-octave vibraphone, and has recorded and toured with such artists as Max Roach, Joe Henderson, Wynton Marsalis, Charlie Hunter, Kenny Barron and Cassandra Wilson.
“When I think of Yamaha, I think of extraordinary quality and sound,” states Harris. “This is achieved through the company’s strong sense of teamwork. There is an open line of communication between the engineers, the musicians, the future musicians, the teachers and the consumer. Their products are always innovative because they directly reflect the ever-changing needs of the field.”
To date, Harris has released five albums: A Cloud of Red Dust (1998, Blue Note), Black Action Figure (1999, Blue Note), Kindred (2001, Blue Note), The Grand Unification Theory (2003, Blue Note) and Evolution (2004, Blue Note) and has received three GRAMMY® nominations. He has been voted Best Vibraphonist by Jazz Times (2004), Best Mallet Player by the Jazz Journalist Association for five years running (2000-2004), and received Jazz at Lincoln Center’s prestigious Martin E. Segal Award. He was also named the number one Rising Star Vibraphonist in DownBeat magazine’s Critics Poll in 2003 and 2004.
Check out Stefon Harris on the web at www.stefonharris.com.
For more information, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Band & Orchestral Division, 39 West Jackson Place, Suite 150, Indianapolis, IN 46225; call (317) 524-6270; e-mail jwittmann@yamaha.com; or visit www.yamaha.com/band.
 Stefon Harris |
Harris currently plays a Yamaha 5-octave marimba and 3-1/2-octave vibraphone, and has recorded and toured with such artists as Max Roach, Joe Henderson, Wynton Marsalis, Charlie Hunter, Kenny Barron and Cassandra Wilson.
“When I think of Yamaha, I think of extraordinary quality and sound,” states Harris. “This is achieved through the company’s strong sense of teamwork. There is an open line of communication between the engineers, the musicians, the future musicians, the teachers and the consumer. Their products are always innovative because they directly reflect the ever-changing needs of the field.”
To date, Harris has released five albums: A Cloud of Red Dust (1998, Blue Note), Black Action Figure (1999, Blue Note), Kindred (2001, Blue Note), The Grand Unification Theory (2003, Blue Note) and Evolution (2004, Blue Note) and has received three GRAMMY® nominations. He has been voted Best Vibraphonist by Jazz Times (2004), Best Mallet Player by the Jazz Journalist Association for five years running (2000-2004), and received Jazz at Lincoln Center’s prestigious Martin E. Segal Award. He was also named the number one Rising Star Vibraphonist in DownBeat magazine’s Critics Poll in 2003 and 2004.
Check out Stefon Harris on the web at www.stefonharris.com.
For more information, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Band & Orchestral Division, 39 West Jackson Place, Suite 150, Indianapolis, IN 46225; call (317) 524-6270; e-mail jwittmann@yamaha.com; or visit www.yamaha.com/band.
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