Bess Bonnier
piano (Detroit)
Bess Bonnier was a blind Detroit pianist who grew up with Barry; she lent him the variable-speed record player with which he taught himself to solo.
- mentions
- 3
- recordings
- 3
- Barry speaking
- 3
What Barry says
As a teenager Barry could chord well but could not solo. Visiting the West Side of Detroit, he found pianists who chorded less well than him but could solo, and he went home determined to learn how.
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle5:43The Spirit of Bebop16:15Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶38Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶107
He called Bess Bonnier, a blind pianist he grew up with, and asked to borrow her machine: a record player whose speed could be set anywhere, down as far as an octave lower, so a record could be heard slowly and in any key. She lent it to him, and that is how he learned to solo.
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle6:16The Spirit of Bebop16:15The last train to Monk: an interview7:46Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶109Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶7
The first thing he learned on it was Webb City, a record with Bud Powell and Sonny Stitt. So when people say he plays like Bud Powell, Barry allows that he does: that is how he started. He began with Bud but went on to learn a lot of Charlie Parker.
The Spirit of Bebop16:50Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶38Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶177
Barry remembers little of the learning itself. He says he took a record, worked a chorus off it, and could solo after that, though he also slowed down a great many records.
The last train to Monk: an interview7:46Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶109
Barry calls Bess one of Detroit’s special pianists, says she has made records and is a fine player, and spells her name for the oral history, adding that her name later became Bess Makras.
Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶107Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶109Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶38
Bess is among the Detroit musicians Barry grew up with, named with Pepper Adams, and among those who, Barry says, learned a great deal from Frank Foster when he came to Detroit.
The last train to Monk: an interview7:09Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶67
In his own words
I don’t know if you ever heard of her, Bess [Bonnier]. She’s a blind pianist that I grew up with.
So, I went back to the east side, went back home. I called up Bess Bonnier. See Bess Bonnier is one of our special piano players.
She had a record player, and this record player was very special, because you could take this record player and you could stop any place and go all the way through.
And we all grew up together, man. You know, Pepper Adams, Bess [Bonnier], you know Bess is the blind pianist. I borrowed her record player
when I first got that record player from Bess, I started with Bud Powell. But I went on, I ended up with Bird a lot
Every mention
3 moments in the recordings, 3 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle
- 6:16
Borrowed the blind pianist’s slow-down machine; that is how he learned to solo.
The last train to Monk: an interview
- 7:09
Grew up with Bess, ‘the blind pianist’; borrowed her record player to learn to solo.
The Spirit of Bebop
- 16:15
‘The blind girl Bess’ had a record player that could run at any speed.
In the interviews and notes
Back from the West Side, Barry phoned Bess Bonnier, one of Detroit’s special pianists, later Bess Makras. She lent him her little record player, which could be lowered through every key, and he learned to solo from records, though he remembers little of how.
Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶107Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶109
Talking about Charlie Parker, Barry says that when he first got the record player from Bess he began with Bud Powell, but went on to Bird a lot.
Asked which pianists struck him before Bud Powell, Barry tells how Bess Bonnier, a blind Detroit pianist who has made records and is a fine player, lent him a special record player, and how the first thing he learned was Webb City.
Barry names Pepper Adams, Bess and himself among the Detroit musicians who learned a lot from Frank Foster when he came to town.
In the feature’s version of the story Barry was 17 when Bess lent him a record player that could play a record in any key all the way through, and the first thing he learned was Webb City, with Fats Navarro, Bud Powell and Sonny Stitt.
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.