Barry HarrisThe method

People Barry talks about

Leroy Williams

drums

Drummer from Chicago who came to New York around 1967 and was Barry’s regular drummer from the late 1960s on; Barry says Leroy knows him best.

mentions
12
recordings
7
Barry speaking
2

What Barry says

In 1999 Barry calls their partnership a union of about thirty years. Once, unable to find a bass player for a gig at Bradley’s, he used Leroy alone on drums, and from that he learned that Leroy knows him best, as he should after all those years.

Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶13Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶14

Asked what first made Leroy so in tune with him, Barry says it began when Charles McPherson told him he had to hear this drummer, whom McPherson thought Barry would like.

Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶15Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶16

Barry calls his bond with Leroy a special relationship. He likes Billy Higgins too, and admits to being selfish about the two of them. He plays off his drummer, he says: it is a matter of matching heartbeats, and with Higgins or Leroy they do a better job than most.

Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶18Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶20

In 2006, ahead of a Village Vanguard engagement with Leroy, Barry says that with him he somehow feels the ‘ands’ of the beat, the syncopation, which Barry by then saw as the heart of bebop.

Andrew Velez, Barry Harris: A Thousand Percent Music Man ¶11Andrew Velez, Barry Harris: A Thousand Percent Music Man ¶12

Late in life Barry still calls Leroy a great drummer. In the oral history he mentions a coming trip to Japan with him, and in 2015 he says his Village Vanguard trio has Leroy on drums with Ray Drummond or Chuck Israels on bass.

Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶327Victor L. Schermer (interviewer); Barry Harris, Barry Harris: Iconic Jazz Pianist and Keeper of the Flame ¶47

Barry tells two stories of coming home from Japan with Leroy: writing a song on the plane and waking Leroy to show him, only for Leroy to go back to sleep; and, after landing, riding into New York by cab with Leroy past vacant buildings that looked bombed out.

Interview: Bird, Hawkins, Monk and New York39:38Barry Harris Trio - 2005-07-08, North Sea Jazz Festival, Netherlands1:13:33

Barry confirms Leroy’s story that, back from Japan, he took a cab straight to his class.

Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶464Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶465

In his own words

That’s been a union of about 30 years... What I found out from that is that Leroy knows me the best. Well, after all those years don’t you think he should?

Barry Harris on WKCR-FM. WKCR, 1999 ¶14

I think it’s all a matter of heartbeats. We have to adjust our heartbeat to each other, so I think between Billy Higgins and Leroy we do a better job than most people.

Barry Harris on WKCR-FM. WKCR, 1999, asked whether he plays off the drummer ¶20

In some kind of way, I feel the ‘ands’ with him. I feel the syncopation.

Andrew Velez, Barry Harris: A Thousand Percent Music Man. All About Jazz, 2006 ¶12

I wrote it on the plane coming back from Japan and I woke up Leroy, I said... wake up, look what I wrote. He went back to sleep but I... kept writing anyway

Barry Harris Trio - 2005-07-08, North Sea Jazz Festival, Netherlands. North Sea Jazz Festival, 2005, introducing a song of his own 1:13:33 Watch on YouTube at 1:13:33

I remember Leroy and I, one time we hopped in a cab and we started riding into the [city], and you start seeing all these bombed out buildings.

Interview: Bird, Hawkins, Monk and New York, various, 1987–2019. Radio interview, 1988, on coming home to New York 39:51 Watch on YouTube at 39:51

Every mention

12 moments in the recordings, 2 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.

Barry Harris Trio - 2005-07-08, North Sea Jazz Festival, Netherlands

  1. 1:13:33

    Barry

    Wrote a song on the plane home from Japan; woke Leroy to show him, but Leroy went back to sleep.

    Watch on YouTube at 1:13:33

Interview: Bird, Hawkins, Monk and New York

various, 1987–2019

  1. 39:38

    Barry

    Riding into New York by cab with Leroy after a Japan trip, past vacant, bombed-out-looking buildings.

    Watch on YouTube at 39:38

  2. 30:48

    Interviewer

    The radio host introduces a 1977 LP of Monk’s music with Bill Lee on bass and Leroy Williams on drums.

    Watch on YouTube at 30:48

  3. 44:05

    Interviewer

    The host back-announces a Monk medley played by Barry with Rufus Reid and Leroy Williams.

    Watch on YouTube at 44:05

Barry Harris - I Love Lucy

  1. 0:00

    Speaker unclear

    Opening the first live recording at the Jazz Cultural Theater, the speaker, likely Barry, introduces Rufus Reid and Leroy Williams.

    Watch on YouTube

My Chat With Chris Parks From Things I Learned From Barry Harris

  1. 16:28

    A student

    Chris Parks recalls Leroy, Barry’s longtime drummer, telling him Barry needed the class more than the students needed him.

    Watch on YouTube at 16:28

  2. 52:51

    A student

    Parks: Leroy played drums, with George Mraz on bass, on The First Time Ever at Van Gelder’s studio.

    Watch on YouTube at 52:51

  3. 55:03

    A student

    Parks: it was always Leroy, not Barry, who named Barry’s own tunes.

    Watch on YouTube at 55:03

Barry Harris Funeral

Harlem, 2021–22

  1. 1:05:33

    Someone else

    A eulogist turns to Leroy in the congregation, speaking of the beat Leroy gave for 50 years.

    Watch on YouTube at 1:05:33

Barry Harris - 2018-10-14, The Jazz Room, Wayne, NJ

  1. 0:36

    Someone else

    The host at The Jazz Room, New Jersey, 2018, introduces Leroy Williams on drums in Barry’s trio.

    Watch on YouTube at 0:36

  2. 1:07:59

    Speaker unclear

    Band introduction late in the same set; the caption is garbled, apparently Williams on drums, Calvin Hill on bass.

    Watch on YouTube at 1:07:59

The Spirit of Bebop

USA, 1999

  1. 3:55

    Someone else

    The Spirit of Bebop DVD credits Leroy Williams on drums (captioned ‘Neora Williams’), with Earl May on bass.

    Watch on YouTube at 3:55

In the interviews and notes

Recordings that name them

Barry’s performances and records in the archive that credit or name them.

And 84 more in the archive.

Method ideas nearby

Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.

  1. 15.4The lineage4
  2. 11.5Touch3
  3. 6.9Triplets in lines (eighth- and sixteenth-note)3
  4. 11.4Play from the body and the arm, not the fingers1
  5. 14.3Learn from the masters by ear; study the small things1
  6. 15.3Music is like math; finding your own voice; the teacher’s job1