#Zacc harris plus
#Zacc harris series

ZH: Initially, I stopped practicing the music I typically would practice, because it’s what I typically play. MP: How are you keeping hold of your identity as a musician? Then I sit in front of the computer in my basement office and practice space for 25 hours a week, teaching. Then I take care of my 3-year-old son because we pulled him out of day care – because of the virus, and also because of the money. ZH: I wake up in the morning and help my daughter with her distance learning for first grade, which is a lot harder than one would think. I had the weekly gig at the Riverview, and I would play at the Icehouse and the Lexington quite a bit, and at the Black Dog on Saturdays with various projects. MP: On average, how often were you performing in a given month? We were touring in May to Chicago and Madison and were trying to confirm a date in Milwaukee. We were going to do that festival at UMD and play Mondays at Icehouse in April. We had a number of Atlantis Quartet gigs on the books for spring. ZH: It looked great! January and February are typically pretty bad months, but they were the best I ever had, in terms of gigging income. MP: Before then, what did 2020 look like for you? Now I doubt we’re going to play any normal gigs until next summer. I was hopeful it was only going to be through April. I have followed this thing from early on because I’m an avid listener to The Daily podcast, and they started covering it pretty far back. When that got canceled, that was the moment when I was like, “Uh-oh, this is going to be bad.” Atlantis Quartet was going to headline the UMD jazz festival the following Friday. My gigs for the next two weeks had already been canceled. MP: So you knew March 15 would be your last gig for a while. The gigs I had on the weekend were different. I remember thinking – wow, this is gonna be the last gig for a while until this thing blows over.

That was a big, big crowd, coming to hear JT’s Grain Trio. On the Tuesday before, I played at Icehouse with JT and Kevin. I was like, well, if I’m not going to be playing for a while, I better take these gigs. MinnPost: Your last gig was Sunday, March 15. This conversation has been edited and condensed. When we spoke, he was walking the family dog, Delilah.

He’s also a husband, a father of two young children, and a dog owner. Harris’s life, like that of most gigging musicians, is pieced together in the best of times. CST, the label will present its first virtual concert, Quarantine Qoncert #1. It’s more labor of love than money-maker. In 2010, in his copious spare time, he started an artist-focused collective record label, Shifting Paradigm Records, that now has 47 titles and an impressive roster of familiar names. He’s a composer – largely with Atlantis Quartet, which performs only original music by its members.

#Zacc harris plus

Plus Harris is an educator, teaching privately and as an adjunct with Hamline University and Carleton College. Its final three concerts of the 2019-20 season were lost to the virus.

#Zacc harris series

Paul series Jazz at Studio Z for seven years. He played often at the Black Dog, Icehouse and the Lexington. Harris leads three groups of his own, the Zacc Harris Group, the Zacc Harris Trio and American Reverie.įrom Spring 2007 until the coronavirus hit, he had a regular Sunday-night date at the Riverview Wine Bar. The group has released five albums to date, been named Best Twin Cities Jazz Artist by City Pages and the Star Tribune, and won a McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians. In 2006, Harris co-founded the Atlantis Quartet. “From there,” he told MinnPost on Thursday, “I was able to start doing the thing I do well, which is networking and making things happen.” Meeting drummer Pete Hennig connected him with more people and more opportunities to play. He took a couple of lessons from guitarist Clay Moore, who told him “You need to be giggin’, man.” Soon he was playing late-night shows at the Dakota. When Zacc Harris moved to Minneapolis in 2005, he hit the ground running.