Celebrating Drummers: The Perpetual Apprentice

Thank you for participating in our Jazz Appreciation Month Listener Poll…today we celebrate drummers. Be sure to tune in to hear all of your favorite drummers, which, of course, include Winard Harper!

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For drummer Winard Harper, jazz is about far more than the music. It is a means of communicating across divides, of propelling social commentary, fostering healing and expanding spirituality. He has come to these conclusions over decades of learning, playing, touring and innovating. Some call him the perpetual apprentice.

Born Hiram Winard Harper in Baltimore in 1962, the child was surrounded by a musical family, including older brother, Philip, a renowned trumpeter. By five, he was playing with the family band, already drawn to percussion. Along the way, he was also influenced by gospel music. As a young professional, while performing as a sideman on the Washington, D.C. jazz circuit, he formed the Harper Brothers Band with his older brother. The group enjoyed much success, releasing four critically acclaimed albums. The second, “Remembrance,” was recorded live at the Village Vanguard and shot to number one on the Billboard jazz chart. Of the next release, “Artistry,” Harper said the band was so tight that the eight musicians “lived and breathed as one.” Unfortunately for their fans, the brothers disbanded in 1993 to pursue solo careers, which sent the younger Harper on new paths – including a fascination with the spiritual sounds of African drums. The musical innovator spent time becoming a cymbal virtuoso, forming a sextet that played at Lincoln Center,  performing with such jazz greats as Avery Sharpe, Dexter Jordan and Johnny Griffin, and he spent four years with Betty Carter’s band.  He had become, among other things, a polished entertainer with a sleek and smooth style of drumming.

His latest musical reincarnation with Jeli Posse, and their album “Coexist,’ still embraces innovation but draws more on Caribbean and African influences. It also speaks to Harper’s evolving philosophical belief that “music comes with a social obligation to heal and enlighten” and should convey a “dynamic sense of giving.” Clearly, the apprentice is still at work, learning how to make his drums speak a musical social conscience.

As we celebrate drummers today, Harper would be the first to say that many jazz drummers have famously spoken a language all their own, such as Billy Higgins, Max Roach, Buddy Rich, and Gene Krupa. We at KUVO are honored to recognize all their legacies, one unique drum beat at a time.