Bird On A Piano Wire: Pianist and Berklee Professor Kevin Harris Talks Reinterpreting Charlie Parker Ahead of Tonight’s Blue Note Gig

“Most people that are coming to hear Charlie Parker are expecting to see a saxophone player. And when they don’t, they’re like: ‘Hmm, this’ll be interesting,’” pianist and Berklee College of Music professor Kevin Harris says of his unconventional piano covers of classics created by the Bird. Of course, Harris says such differences don’t really matter in the end whenever he’s playing his takes on those songs written by the legendary jazz saxophonist because “a melody is a melody, whether someone is whistling it or playing it on whatever instrument. So people start to connect with it, once you hear the melody.”

Harris is known for not only covering Parker’s songs live, he also recorded an entire critically album called of those songs called Bird Interpretations in 2015. He and his band, The Kevin Harris Project will bust out some of those covers along with many of his own compositions, which dabble in everything from southern black gospel to Afro Cuban during a gig at Blue Note tonight (they also performed their yesterday, Dec 28). Below, he tells us more about that, his other influences, playing catchup as a late blooming musician, and the knowledge he passes on to piano proteges as a professor at Berklee, and more.

Though you're probably best known for covering Charlie Parker, I’ve read that Thelonious Monk was also a huge influence on you as well. How did his music impact you?
I love the fact that, towards the beginning of his career, he was labelled as this weird musician who didn't fit in, didn't sound like the other piano players, and nobody "got" him. Of course these people embraced these eccentricities later when he started to become famous. That’s what made him so cool. Someone who can stick to their individuality, what really makes them who they are artistically despite all the naysayers, is what I appreciate most.

That’s what made him so innovative? People hadn’t caught up to him?
I think so. He was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. And when he first arrived in New York he wanted to hang out with all the stride piano players— James P. Johnson, or Eubie Blake. He wanted to be like them. But funny enough, the more he started to imitate them, the more he continued to have something distinctly "Monk." He never sounded exactly like any of these musicians. Which tends to happen today, new artists sound like so and so, instead of sounding like what they might become as a result of imitating. That’s what I love about Monk. And hopefully in my playing, people will hear some Monk in there, but also something that’s definitely Kevin Harris. That's what I'm always striving for.

What’s it like to help your students balance their influences with finding their own voice?
I try my best. As an educator I do my best not to be that professor that comes across as having all the answers. As they play, I try to find where the holes are, and I tell them to connect with the history and study a little more, be it Mary Lou Williams on the piano, or Dorothy Donegan, or what have you. I tell them "Let’s get inside this aspect that’s missing." But I try to combine that with where they want to go. I can’t just be piling on what I think they should learn, without asking: “Where do you want to be in five years? What are you going to be playing?” There has to be a balance between where they see themselves going, and what I think they need.

When you were younger, what was that push and pull like as you tried to find your own voice?
You say "when I was younger," but I feel like I’m still doing that now (laughs). When I was growing up, whenever I wasn’t super excited about playing the piano, my Mom would let me go to the park and play with my brother. I was always allowed to play the piano, but I didn’t get into classical music or jazz until I was in college. I started playing the piano when I was 14. Trumpet was my first instrument since the fourth grade.

By the time I got to college I realised there was a lot of catchup that I needed to do. A lot. So that’s when teachers started to steer me, saying “Hey here’s Monk,” and “Hey, here’s Herbie,” but also “And let me tell you how much they have to do with Bach,” and “Let me tell you how they improvise like Mozart.” They told me how much they had in common, not how they were different. One tacher would sit down with me and we would look at a Bach prelude, and he’d ask: “What do you notice about what happens in the left hand? And how about the right hand? Now, check out what Charlie Parker does here.” And he would start to play Charlie Parker in this classical style. Then he’d do the opposite, and play Bach in a jazz style, mixing them up to show me how the two of them were always improvising, and always creating. That’s how I was pointed in the right direction.

I was just about to ask you about your pianist interpretation of the Bird’s work.
It is a real highlight of my career. When I finished my undergrad I came to Boston to study at the New England Conservatory of Music. While there I took lessons from Fred Hersch and Danilo Perez, both monster piano players. Fred would give me these assignments, where there had to be something unique in my playing, it had to have several melodies going at the same time. He taught me to be aware of the harmonies. He really put me to work. He kicked my butt to be honest.

So I decided to work on Charlie Parker’s tunes, implementing the assignments that Fred had given me years ago. Because I continue to take lessons from Fred. It’s been 15 years and I still go to his house. It’s been this ongoing continuation of the interpretations that he’s shown me, implementing those things on Charlie Parker’s music.

It must be challenging though— it involves different instruments, different eras.
Yes it’s tricky. But instead of putting the melody in the right hand, like most piano players do, I put it in the left hand and then create harmonies in the right. These are assignments Fred gave me a long time ago. So why not do that, and have my drummer double what’s going on in my right hand, and son on? Eventually you figure it out, and make it your own.

A melody is a melody, whether someone is whistling it or playing it on whatever instrument. So people start to connect with it, once you hear the melody. Maybe someone is used to hearing the melody played fast by Charlie Parker, but I may play it slow, and play Cuban rhythms under it. It's all about using all the information I've picked up along the away, and about keeping it interesting. But it's also about always having something that people can relate to.

The Kevin Harris Project will perform at Blue Note Beijing tonight (Dec 30) at 6.30pm. For more information, click here.

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Photos: kevinharrisproject.com, telegraph.co.uk