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Harris grew up in Chicago, and like other successful Chicago musicians such as Nat King Cole, Dinah Washington, Clifford Jordan , Johnny Griffin, Gene Ammons, Julian Priester , and Bo Diddley (among others), studied music under Walter Dyett at DuSable High School. He later studied music at Roosevelt College , by which time he was proficient on piano, vibraphone, and tenor saxophoneoctave lower than an Alto Sax. The saxophone or sax is a musical instrument of the woodwind family, usually made of brass and with a distinctive loop bringing the bell upwards. It was invented by Adolphe Sax in the mid- 1840s. The saxophone is most common. While in college he performed professionally with Gene Ammons.

After college he was drafted into the United States ArmyThe Army is the branch of the United States armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. As of fiscal year 2002 (FY02), it consisted of 480,000 soldiers on active duty and 555,000 in reserve (350,000 in Army National G. While serving in Europe he was accepted into the 7th Army Band , which also included Don EllisBandleader Don Ellis ( July 25, 1934 December 17, 1978) consistently explored the area of unusual time signatures. He was a very skilled trumpet and drum player, composer, and big band leader. He held a Teacher's Certificate for the Commonwealth of Massac, Leo WrightLeo Wright born 1933 in Wichita Falls, Texas, died January 4, 1991 in Vienna. American jazz musician who played alto saxophone, flute and clarinet. He played with Charles Mingus and Dizzy Gillespie in the late '50s and early '60s. Wright, Leo Wright, Leo., and Cedar WaltonCedar Anthony Walton, Junior (born in 1934) is an American hard bop pianist. After leaving the army, in which he had performed in a jazz ensemble, he joined Kenny Dorham's band. After playing with J. Johnson and the Art Farmer/ Benny Golson Jazztet he joi.

After getting out of the army he worked in New York CitySkyline, with Statue of Liberty New York, New York" redirects here. For alternate meanings, see New York, New York (disambiguation). New York — officially named City of New York and often called New York City to distinguish it from the state of New York, before returning to Chicago, where he signed a contract with Vee Jay Records . His first album for Vee Jay, Exodus to Jazz included his own jazz arrangement of Ernest Gold 's theme from the movie Exodus. A shortened version of this track, which featured his masterful playing in the upper register of the tenor saxophone, was heavily played on radio and became the first jazz record ever to be certified gold.

Many jazz critics, however, regarded commercial success as a sign that a jazz artist had sold out, and Harris soon stopped playing "Exodus" in concert. He moved to Columbia RecordsColumbia Records is the oldest continually used brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888. 1925 Columbia was originally the local company distributing and selling Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington, D. Maryland and Delaware. in 1964 and to Atlantic Records in 1965. At Atlantic in 1965 he released The In Sound, a bop album which won back many of his detractors.

Over the next few years he began to perform on electric piano and the electric Varitone saxophone , and to perform a mixture of jazz and funk which sold well in both the jazz and rhythm and blues markets. In 1967 his album The Electrifying Eddie Harris reached second place on the R & B charts.

In 1969 he performed with Les McCann 's group at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Although they had been unable to rehearse, their session was so impressive that a recording of it was released as Swiss Movement, which became one of the best-selling jazz albums ever, also reaching second place on the R & B charts.

From 1970 to 1975 he experimented with new instruments of his own invention (the reed trumpet was a trumpet with a saxophone mouthpiece, the saxobone was a saxophone with a trombone mouthpiece, and the guitorgan was a combination of guitar and organ), with singing the blues, with jazz-rock (he recorded an album with Steve Winwood, Jeff Beck, Albert Lee, Rick Grech, Zoot Money , and other rockers), and with comic R & B numbers such as "That is Why You're Overweight."

In 1975, however, he alienated much of his audience with his album The Reason Why I'm Talkin' Shit, which consisted mainly of stand-up comedy, and public interest in his subsequent albums declined sharply. He continued to record into the 1990s, but his experimentation ended and he mainly recorded hard bop.