Allan Harris - Open Up Your Mind (Love Productions)
Allan Harris’ new recording, Open Up Your Mind, signals the beginning of a new era in this incredibly talented musician’s career. Always known as a singer’s singer, in Open Up Your Mind Harris also gets the opportunity to show off his deep songwriting talent while letting the music world know that he can hold his own on guitar. Harris has a rich history in the jazz world, CNN referred to him as one of the “three best male jazz vocalists in the country.” His last CD, Long Live The King, a Tribute to Nat King Cole recorded live at the Kennedy Center, has garnered critical acclaim around the world. Now, this CD features nine original songs destined to hit the charts, like Hold You which pays tribute to the great R&B songs of Luther Vandross and Teddy Pendergrass, while Can’t Live My Life Without You is an upbeat jazzy tune in the vein of George Benson. Allan’s outstanding vocal abilities are well-represented in The Color of a Woman is Blue and his slide guitar playing is highlighted in the very bluesy Inner Fear, while the songs Open Up Your Mind (the title track) and There She Goes have a crossover edge that melds roots rhythms with jazz improvisation. Autumn is an original jazz ballad that will make you dream of love that changes like the seasons, and Harris’ unique rendition of the classic Fly Me to the Moon will surprise and delight all listeners. In Shores of Istanbul, Allan dreams of that beautiful city and the mutual love affair they’ve had over the years. However, there’s no hiding Harris’ great love for the US, and in the final track I Do Believe, he pays tribute to the everyday working people who make our country great. Open Up Your Mind will no doubt attract those who love vocalists and jazz with a contemporary twist.
“The headwaters of the protean talent that is Allan Harris, a baritone crooner with a husky edge, may be Nat King Cole and his trio. But to describe this pop-jazz singer, composer and guitarist as a gifted Cole acolyte doesn’t take into account the winding tributaries that bring in the blues, folk, pop-soul, light funk, Americana and Broadway flavors. Together they flow into a fertile musical delta that reflects Mr. Harris’s unfashionably hopeful vision of multicultural America.” --Stephen Holden, New York Times.
Career Highlights:
•New musical spokesman for Price Chopper Barbecue TV commercial seen throughout the Northeast
•Featured in “A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers” by Will Friedwald •Regular appearances at Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center debuting shows “The Genius of Eddie Jefferson,” “A Tribute to Billy Strayhorn,” “Suite for Human Nature (Wynton Marsalis),” “A Tribute to Fats Waller (Ben Vereen),” “More than a Song (Michael Feinstein) a “Tribute to Nat King Cole,” “Our Favorite Songs (Tommy Flanagan”)
•3X winner of the New York Nightlife Award for “Outstanding Jazz Vocalist” and a Bistro Award for “Ongoing Achievement in Jazz”
•Featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater
•Chamber Music America Grant recipient for his song-cycle Cross That River the story of the Black West now a full-scale musical (debuted in 2009 at the NY Musical Theatre Festival); selected for the Tony Award winning O’Neill Cabaret and Theatre Camp -August 2011, to be featured at Theatre Aspen for 5 week run - June 2012