David Harris

David Harris has distinguished himself on trombone, tuba, and as a composer/arranger in a multitude of musical styles. He  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.

A 1981 graduate of the New England Conservatory, Harris associates with a wide variety of musicians performing jazz, pop, and traditional folk music. He 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 three times. He is a longtime trombonist and composer/arranger for the avant-garde big band Jazz Composers Alliance, most recently performing, composing, conducting, and producing its newest release The JCA Orchestra Live at the BPC. He is a trombonist and tubist in the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, a second line brass band that bridges traditional New Orleans-styled music with modern jazz. Mr. Harris 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 more than 50 albums.

Harris has performed in the U.S., Canada, and Africa with the Ethiopian funk band Debo Band, recording on its debut album on the Sub Pop label, as well as recording his composition “Trek from Ethiopia” for the Trikont Label compilation Beyond Addis. His most recent projects include Triarky, a power trio featuring Mimi Rabson on electric violin, Harris on electric tuba, and Phil Neighbors on drums, performing original rock, ska, funk, and jazz; T’nT, a tuba tenor sax duo with Jeff Robinson performing groove soul and funk tunes from the 1960s and '70s; and the Epic Trio/Quartet, with Harris on trombone, Mimi Rabson on violin, and Tino D’Agostino on electric bass, performing groove soul and funk tunes from the 1960s and '70s.