New Orleans Jazz Hero
Say the word “jazz” in New Orleans and to many — visitors and locals alike – the sound of traditional jazz comes to mind. Preservation ain’t just a hall, it’s the style of “historic” music that tends to suck up all the air and limited resources available for jazz in the city in which it was proverbially born.
For almost seven years now, Peter Harris has been swimming against this current, single-handedly producing and leading a four-night-a-week performance series at the Bayou Bar in the Pontchartrain Hotel — a series that is hands-down the city’s most consistent and inspiring connection to the current national state of jazz, call it post-bop, mainstream or just “modern.”
Peter himself is one of the city’s leading jazz bassists, who came up under Ellis Marsalis, and continues to be the top-list choice — mostly on acoustic but sometimes electric — for gigs of jazz-as-it’s-played-now. He is quiet, serious and deeply sincere about the music he has dedicated himself to. He performs regularly with groups led by Herlin Riley, Germaine Bazzle, Shannon Powell and Jason Marsalis. He teaches at the University of New Orleans, as well at Loyola, Tulane, Baton Rouge Community College, and various high schools.
The role he has assigned himself – that of producer and curator, bandleader and paymaster of a venue that requires him to say “no” as often as if not more than he says “yes” — is a measure of his dedication. It’s not easy taking on a role like that, morphing from musician to The Man. But he’s done it, and the local music scene is better for it. Peter is ensuring the future of this music, providing a home where it can flourish. That’s what the Bayou Bar is about.
The Bayou Bar scene started just before Covid-19 came on, somehow survived the pandemic and now flourishes as an important local gig for improvisers of all styles and generations. It’s where 91-year old Charlie Gabriel blows timeless ballads supported by a rhythm section averaging 50 years younger, a scene resounding with the interactive energy created by the cream of the city’s jazz talent (besides Riley and Marsalis, Derek Douget, David Torkanowski, Steve Masakowski, Johnny Vidacovich, Dwight Fitch Jr., Ashlin Parker, Gerald Watkins Jr., Tony Digradi, John Michael Bradford . . . the list goes on) and national talent on tour stopping by. It’s where top-tier musicians can play with the loose, unscripted freedom which allows the music to grow and develop into something it wasn’t before, where tomorrow’s headliners are being born and audiences cultivated. It draws a mixed crowd of music enthusiasts, including some encountering modern jazz for the first — but surely not the last — time.
The place ain’t quiet – it’s not the Village Vanguard. But the enthusiasm and the energy, the experience of creative jazz at the Bayou Bar is exactly the kind of support this music so richly deserves. Peter Harris’s leadership has brought this about, and so the Jazz Journalist Association is proud to recognize and celebrate him as its 2024 New Orleans Jazz Hero.
— Ashley Kahn
Author, Journalist
New York University
