Perhaps inspired by this notion, Harris has developed a framework for moving his chord structures along scales in much the same way that one might think of developing single-note improvisations from scale practice. As a jazz educator, Harris has created a unique harmonic palette that features the oscillation of specific chord structures constructed from what he terms “diminished” scales.1 His theory of moving these chord structures along various scale degrees is almost a reflection of jazz saxophonist Coleman Hawkins’s declaration: “I don’t play chords, I play movements” (Rees 1998, 60). He has since gone on to develop a teaching method based on his unrelenting inquiry into the nature of traditional jazz and bebop (Stein 2006). Harris, an internationally renowned jazz pianist, composer and educator, whose former students include the likes of John Coltrane, Donald Byrd, and Paul Chambers, began playing jazz as a young adult in Detroit in the 1930s, before making a pilgrimage to Harlem, New York (Bicket 2001, 3). Known to his peers as the “keeper of the bebop flame,” jazz pianist Barry Harris has cultivated and imparted a unique approach to teaching the music of Charlie Parker, Earl “Bud” Powell, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk.
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