David Harris

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David Harris has distinguished himself on tuba, trombone, and as a composer/arranger in a multitude of musical styles. Born in University City, MO., a 1981 graduate of New England Conservatory as a classical trombonist, and a freelance-artist in the Boston area since 1980, Mr. Harris associates with a wide variety of musicians performing jazz, pop, and traditional folk music. Mr. Harris is an associate professor at Berklee College of Music in the Harmony department.

As a jazz composer, he has won the Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship for Music Composition 3 times, most recently in 2015. David is longtime trombonist, co-leader, and composer/arranger for the avant gaarde big band Jazz Composers’ Alliance, with whom he performs and records. He is trombonist and tubist in the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, a 2nd line brass band that bridges traditional New Orleans-styled music with modern jazz. David performed and recorded with Ethiopian funk band DeboBand, recording his composition “Trek from Ethiopia” for the Trikont label compilation “Beyond Addis”, as well as performing on their debut album on Subpop.

David was the founding trombonist for the Klezmer Conservatory Band, as well as trombonist/arranger for the klezmer music ensemble Shirim, noted for their “Klezmer Nutcracker” and klezmer version of Peter and the Wolf- “Pinkus and the Pig”, both of which he co-arranged. David has been featured in soundtracks for TV, commercials, Woody Allen’s “Deconstructing Harry”, a klezmer soundtrack for the movie “Stranger Among Us”, the soundtrack for the movie “Opposite of Sex,” as well as recording on over 50 albums. Mr. Harris has performed around the world, including the Berlin Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, the Sauti za Busara in Zanzibar, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Philadelphia Pops, the Smithsonian Institute, and jazz clubs such as the Blue Note, Tonic, and the Knitting Factory.