Harrison Bankhead  | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Harrison Napoleon Bankhead III | 
| Born | March 1, 1955 Waukegan, Illinois, U.S.  | 
| Died | April 5, 2023 (aged 68) | 
| Genres | Jazz | 
| Instrument(s) | Double bass | 
Harrison Napoleon Bankhead III[1] (March 1, 1955 – April 5, 2023) was an American jazz double-bassist.
Life and career
Bankhead became associated with the Chicago jazz scene in the early-1980s.[2] Early in his career, he performed with Fred Anderson on tour and at Anderson's Chicago club, the Velvet Lounge.[3] Bankhead has worked with Oliver Lake, Roscoe Mitchell, Von Freeman, Malachi Thompson, 8 Bold Souls, and Hamid Drake, and was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. His first album as a leader, Morning Sun/Harvest Moon, was released on Engine, a sub-label of ESP-Disk, in 2011, and featured sidemen Edward Wilkerson, Jr., Mars Williams, James Sanders, Avreeayl Ra, and Ernie Adams.[4] He followed this with Velvet Blue, with Wilkerson, Williams, and Ra, whose name and title track pay tribute to Fred Anderson and the Velvet Lounge.[5]
Discography
As leader
- Morning Sun/Harvest Moon (Engine Studios, 2011)
 - Velvet Blue (Engine Studios, 2013)
 - The Fire of Compassion (Engine Studios, 2014)
 
With Malachi Thompson
- The Jaz Life (Delmark, 1992)
 - Lift Every Voice (Delmark, 1993)
 - Buddy Bolden's Rag (Delmark, 1995)
 - 47th Street (Delmark, 1997)
 - Freebop Now! (Delmark, 1998)
 - Rising Daystar (Delmark, 1999)
 - Talking Horns (Delmark, 2001) with Hamiet Bluiett and Oliver Lake
 - Blue Jazz (Delmark, 2003) with Gary Bartz and Billy Harper
 
With 8 Bold Souls
- Sideshow (Arabesque Jazz, 1992)
 - Ant Farm (Arabesque Jazz, 1994)
 - Last Option (Thrill Jockey, 2000)
 
With Dee Alexander
- Wild is the Wind (BluJazz, 2009)
 - Songs My Mother Loves (BluJazz, 2014)
 
With others
- Frequency (Edward Wilkerson, Nicole Mitchell, Harrison Bankhead, and Avreeayl Ra) - Frequency (Thrill Jockey, 2006)
 - Fred Anderson/Harrison Bankhead - The Great Vision Concert (Ayler Records, 2007)
 - Nicole Mitchell, Harrison Bankhead, Hamid Drake - Indigo Trio: Live in Montreal (2007)
 - The Turbine! (Harrison Bankhead, Benjamin Duboc, Hamid Drake, Ramon Lopez) - Entropy/Enthalpy (RogueArt, 2015)
 - Shanta Nurullah's Sitarsys, Sitar Black (Storywiz, 2016)
 
References
- ↑ "Harrison Bankhead Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
 - ↑ Piotr Michalowski, Bass Is The Place. Ann Arbor Observer, October 2014.
 - ↑ Lyn Horton, Review of Morning Sun/Harvest Moon. JazzTimes, August 9, 2011.
 - ↑ Peter Margasak, Three Beats: Bassist Harrison Bankhead finally releases an album of his own. Chicago Reader, July 28, 2011.
 - ↑ Peter Margasak, Bassist Harrison Bankhead, back in front. Chicago Reader, January 24, 2014.
 - ↑ "Harrison Napoleon Bankhead III". Legacy. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
 - ↑ "Harrison Napoleon Bankhead, III". Bradshaw & Range Funeral Home PC. Retrieved 16 April 2023.