Chris Anderson
piano
Blind pianist from Chicago who spent many years in New York; Barry calls him ‘like my love’, says he changed him, and had him on every one of his big concerts.
- mentions
- 5
- recordings
- 2
- Barry speaking
- 5
What Barry says
On the radio in 1988, after the Jazz Cultural Theater had closed, Barry thinks of Chris Anderson, ‘like my love’, who will be on his concert anyway, since he is on every big concert Barry gives. When the host notes that Chris played there about once a month, Barry agrees and adds that he worked there.
Interview: Bird, Hawkins, Monk and New York1:06
In a class on Stella by Starlight, Barry stops to show the students something Anderson does in the tune, involving an A, and seems to recall an exchange with Anderson about not going to G flat from there; the caption is rough. Barry says you had to see him play.
Barry says he has never heard anybody play like Anderson, above all in the way he voices a tune; they did Stella by Starlight with him. Anderson does things Barry does not even know, and when he plays, Barry feels as if he had never played the piano in his life.
Asked how Anderson affected his life, Barry says a great deal, because Anderson played his chords low, as well as high. The question follows Barry’s story of a teacher who told one of Barry’s piano players that he played his chords too low, advice Barry told the student to ignore.
Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶292Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶293Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶294
Barry has known about Anderson for years: Anderson even stayed at the Baroness’s house, and has been around New York a long time. He comes from Chicago: Barry thinks Herbie Hancock might name him in an interview, and that older Chicago pianists would have to.
In his own words
I really wish you could see him play to see how he does a song. I’ve never heard anybody play like that in my life, never just never in my life.
He does stuff I don’t even know. I’m like an idiot. You know, I’ve been looking. I feel like I’ve never played the piano in my life when he plays the piano.
...Chris Anderson, too, who is like my love. Well, Chris will be on the concert anyway. He’ll be on my big concerts because he’s on every big concert I have.
Oh, he affected me a lot, because he know he played the chords low, my brother. He played them low. He played them high too, but he played them low.
Chris has been around a long time, you know in New York. He’s from Chicago. I think, probably if you interviewed Herbie Hancock, he might mention Chris Anderson’s name.
Every mention
5 moments in the recordings, 5 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Stella by Starlight
- 4:09
Asks for Frans, then wants the class to hear what Chris Anderson does in Stella by Starlight.
- 4:46
Never heard anybody play like Anderson; wishes the class could see how he voices a tune.
- 5:21
Still trying to work out how Anderson played Stella; says Anderson does things he does not know.
- 5:56
When Anderson plays, Barry feels as if he had never played the piano.
Interview: Bird, Hawkins, Monk and New York
- 1:06
Calls Anderson ‘like my love’; he played and worked at the Jazz Cultural Theater and plays every big concert.
In the interviews and notes
In an interview recording quoted in de Lima’s thesis, among the people who taught and shaped him, Barry says he heard Chris Anderson, a blind pianist from Chicago, spent time with him, and was changed a little by him.
Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶647Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶648
A forum member who admires Barry says that after working in Europe in the 1980s, Barry came home and spent his own money paying musicians such as Chris Anderson, C. Sharpe and Junior Cook to play at the Jazz Cultural Theater.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Tom Jobim - Wave Analysis using Barry Harris Method ¶496
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.