Eddie Harris and Oak Woods Cemetery (Google Earth)/Collage: Newcity
Chicago-born saxophone genius Eddie Harris (1934–1996) helped define the sound of the sixties. Beginning in 1961, he landed three top-ten hits on the pop charts and authored jazz’s first-ever certified-gold record. But he didn’t stop there. Over thirty years and seventy albums, he went on to become a pioneer of soul jazz, an innovator in electrified sound, an experimenter with jazz instruments and even a comedian. He was more than all of those too; perhaps too much more in the eyes of some critics who preferred him one way or the other. He didn’t play ball, as his producer Joel Dorn said. He didn’t want to become a “victim of his successes.” For all the joy he evoked, he was serious about his art.
On June 6, Harris will be celebrated in a serious place. “Listen Here! Remembering Eddie Harris with the Junius Paul Sextet,” held in the Oak Woods Cemetery Chapel, will feature a discussion of Harris’ place in music and culture, along with a performance by some notable Chicago jazz musicians.
First up will be a conversation between Professors Travis A. Jackson and Adam Green of the University of Chicago. Jackson is assistant professor and director of undergraduate education in the School of Music, specializing in the processes by which music is produced and received by the world. Green is the author of “Selling the Race: Culture and Community in Black Chicago, 1940–1955” and associate professor in the departments of Race, Diaspora, & Indigeneity and History. Harris saw himself as a thinker as much as a musician and composer, so words from these two scholars should be illuminating. The Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion joins their respective departments as co-sponsors of the event.
Junius Paul/Photo: Fabrice Bourgelle
A performance by the Junius Paul Sextet will follow their talk. The sextet features Paul on bass, Marqueal Jordan on saxophone and vocals, Justin Dillard on keyboards, Sam Jewell on drums, Chris Paquette on percussion and Larry Brown on guitar. Paul is perhaps best known for his work in Makaya McCraven’s ensembles, for his collaborations with figures like Marquis Hill and Tomeka Reid, and for leading his own groups, notably Rotary Connection 222, a tribute to the music of Chicago producer Charles Stepney. Paul is uncommonly history-minded as local jazz players go, so he’s really a perfect figure to help us understand and celebrate Harris.
His sextet here is new and well-suited to a Harris tribute. Jordan’s a dynamic player whose interpretations of Harris’ tunes will be a treat, while Dillard will be up to fill the role of Harris’ long-time partner-in-crime Les McCann at the keys, and Brown’s work in the Chicago Soul Jazz Collective puts him on Harris’ wavelength. Jewell is a Chicago stalwart I often recall as a key part of the fantastic group Paul put together to back singer Billy Valentine at the Chicago Jazz Festival in 2023. Last but not least, Chris Paquette will bring the kind of funk percussion that made Harris’ “Listen Here” an immortal groove. It should be a soulful and—chapel setting notwithstanding—very fun set.
The Oak Woods Cemetery Project, housed at the University of Chicago, hosts events like this alongside a scholarly program centered on this historic cemetery. At Oak Woods, Harris rests among some of the most famous names in the history of the city and the nation—from Harold Washington to Enrico Fermi. You won’t mistake his grave marker for theirs: it bears the image of a tenor saxophone and the legend, “To become a successful musician, you must first become a successful human being.”
“Listen Here! Remembering Eddie Harris with the Junius Paul Sextet” takes place at Oak Woods Cemetery Chapel, 1035 East 67th, on June 6, 11am–1pm.
