Big chief donald harrison sr
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Donald Harrison Jr.
Donald Harrison Jr. ’81 has combined a whirlwind career as a saxophonist with establishing cultural and educational traditions in his native New Orleans, Louisiana. Known for creating nouveau swing, a jazz style that combines R&B, funk, hip-hop, and African dance, Harrison tours all over the world and has many albums and honors to his name. Yet he finds time to be Big Chief of Congo Square Nation in New Orleans for Mardi Gras season as well as being cofounder and artistic director of Tipitina's Foundation Internship Program to help New Orleans youth, especially the disadvantaged, realize their musical dreams.
Harrison was born in 1960 to a musical New Orleans family. His father, Donald Sr., was a Big Chief, part of the African American tradition of participating in dancing, singing, and call-and-response in fanciful costumes that is part of Mardi Gras. Harrison’s career as a saxophonist has included working with multiple top names in jazz and other genres of music, including Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Lena Horne, the Notorious B.I.G., and the Louisiana Phil
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G. Donald Harrison
Pipe organ builder (1889–1956)
George Donald Harrison (G. Donald Harrison) (April 21, 1889 – June 14, 1956) was responsible for the design of some of the finest and largest pipe organs in the United States. Born in Huddersfield, England, he first worked as a patent attorney in 1914 but after military service he began to pursue an interest in pipe organ building, working with Henry Willis & Sons of London.
After immigrating to America, Harrison joined the Skinner Organ Company in 1927 where he spent the remainder of his career. After the Skinner company merged with the Aeolian Organ Company, forming the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company in 1933, he became the company's tonal director and president. While the bulk of his work was as a tonal designer and voicer, Harrison is most famous for his association with "American Classic" organ design. This design concept (its name coined by New Jersey state senator and fellow organ builder Emerson Lewis Richards) was partly a reaction to the proliferation of romantic-orchestral "symphonic organs" that had been in fa
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NEA Jazz Master BIG CHIEF DONALD HARRISON
New Orleans born saxophonist Donald Harrison is a musician/composer who master musicians consider a master of every era of jazz, soul, funk, and a composer of orchestral classical music. He is also a genius, according to geniuses like Eddie Palmieri and Mike Clark. In the HBO drama Treme, Emmy winning director David Simon created two characters to portray how Harrison innovated new styles of music. Harrison has appeared as an actor/musician in 9 episodes of Treme, Oscar-winning director Johnathon Demme’s film "Rachel Getting Married," Spike Lee’s “When The Levee’s Broke,” documentary, and Marvel’s “Luke Cage.” This talented artist is the recognized Big Chief of Congo Square in Afro-New Orleans culture and was made a Chief in 2019 by Queen Diambi Kabatusuila in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa.
Harrison honed his experience playing with Roy Haynes, Art Blakey, Eddie Palmieri, Dr. John, Lena Horne, McCoy Tyner, Dr. Eddie Henderson, Miles Davis, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Chuck Loeb, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Digable Planets, Guru’s Jazz
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