Stefon Harris & Blackout

The contemporary jazz scene is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of vibraphone innovation, and no artist deserves more credit for this development than Stefon Harris. Since emerging in the late 1990s with a series of highly acclaimed albums for Blue Note Records, the New York native has mentored many of the brightest young players to follow in his wake (including Sasha Berliner). But over the past two decades, his appearances in clubs and recording studios have been relatively rare.

His latest album, 2018’s Sonic Creed (Motéma), featuring his band Black Out, is a brilliant, lushly produced program of Harris originals alongside hard-bop classics by Horace Silver, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Timmons, and Bobby Hutcherson. Like much of his work since a highly productive trip to Cuba in 2008, the album explores the kindred roots of jazz and rumba, featuring percussion great Pedrito Martinez. An ambitious composer, startlingly eloquent improviser, and savvy bandleader, Harris continues to expand and deepen the Black Out musical family. He brings the band’s latest iteration west for a rare Stanford sojourn.

Stefon Harris Website

Personnel:

• Stefon Harris, vibraphone & marimba
• Additional personnel TBA