John Harkins's High 5

Historical article recovered from a Wayback capture dated 2018-02-24.

High 5

American-born and raised, John Harkins, who moved to Sydney in 1994, is one of the most sought after jazz pianists in Australia today. John majored in classical piano at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City and has worked with tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton, singer Mark Murphy, and trumpeter Warren Vache (with whom he recorded Easy Going on the Concord Jazz label in 1987) to name a few.

In recent years John has been the Musical Director and pianist for the annual Australian tours of US singer Barbara Morrison. He is featured on her biggest selling CD, Live Down Under.

John was a soloist on Australian CD recordings of Blaine Whittaker’s Hard Bop Cafe featuring James Morrison and The Andrew Speight Quartet, the 1999 ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album of the Year.

He also played and arranged on singer Danielle Gaha’s debut CD titled You Don’t Know Me on Sony/BMG label. He has been praised by jazzandbeyond.com.au for his arrangements and playing on singer Karlie Bruce’s CD release on the LaBrava label.

In mid 2005, John was the pianist for the legendary Cleo Laine on her sold-out 3 week tour of Australia. The final concert was documented by the TV programme ‘60 Minutes’.

In 2008 John released a solo piano and vocal album, Love Letters. This was produced by Australian singer-songwriter Billy Field. The album includes Love Letters, My Shining Hour, Angel Eyes, Stanley Turrentine’s ‘Sugar’ as well as Duke Ellington’s ‘Lucky So and So’.

In March 2009, John released The Jazz Type, his new trio album featuring Wycliffe Gordon, trombonist from NYC. It is available now online.

A new album arranged by John called Barbara Morrison with the John Harkins Trio, recorded in Sydney, will be available in January 2010.

1. MILT JACKSON, RAY BROWN, CEDAR WALTON & BILLY HIGGINS – Jazz Showcase, The Blackstone Hotel Chicago Illinois 1995

Although I’d heard all of these musicians separately before, hearing them play all together was quite the trip. Ray Brown was kind of the unofficial leader. I was sitting about 5 feet from Billy Higgins because all the seats on the piano side were taken! Not a problem since Billy Higgins was the absolute master of dynamics and restraint. Two sets of magic produced by four of the very best. Too swinging to describe in words. I’m a musician, not a critic!

2. SONNY ROLLINS - Sydney Opera House, June 2007

I’d never seen the great man live before and the moment he walked on stage I realized I was crying. My good friend Andrew Dickeson procured us the absolute best seats in the house through some miracle of lottery madness. Sonny came out looking like Moses and walking like some great warrior across the stage. He opened with ‘Falling in Love with Love’ by playing the melody 3 or 4 or maybe 5 times over and over.

The beauty of his whole thing to me is that he is just Sonny Rollins in 2007.

If you were expecting to hear Sonny like he sounded in 1960, you would have been mistaken. This was simply a great jazz musician improvising like any other night in his 60 odd years of playing. On bass was Bob Cranshaw, one of the most recorded jazz bass players in history. They played for over 3 hours. It was one of the greatest jazz concerts I had ever been witness to. To me, jazz has always been about the spirit of the moment. I felt it was a great moment.

3. TOMMY FLANAGAN, KENNY BURRELL, FRANK FOSTER & BETTY CARTER Chicago Jazz Festival August 20, 1997

Tribute to Motor City Jazz 40,000 people on a balmy summer night in my home town. Backstage with my hero Tommy Flanagan, and my best friend, George Fludas, who was playing drums with Tommy that night. The music was so swingin’. The vibe so beautiful. End of review.

4. KIRK LIGHTSEY, BERNIE MCGANN, BRENDAN CLARKE & ANDREW DICKESON - Sound Lounge, March 2008

Hearing this band made me very happy that night. I had heard Kirk Lightsey maybe 200 times or more in NYC throughout the 1980’s. I saw him with Dexter Gordon and Woody Shaw on several occasions, and at Bradley’s on University in the village. Now in his seventies, he sounded better than ever to me. He brought the NY sound (via detroit) to my Redfern/ Zetland neighborhood. His comping on ‘Skylark’ was great. The way he makes the piano sing and jump is not to be taken lightly. I wish I could have followed him around on his tour of Australia and listened every night.

5. HERBIE HANCOCK, RON CARTER, TONY WILLIAMS & WYNTON MARSALIS - Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center NYC 1980

This was a most anticipated concert for the obvious reasons of the great trio. The anticipation was heightened further by the fact that the young Wynton Marsalis was making his debut with these great players. Wynton was 19 at the time. His playing was nothing short of brilliant. He was on fire and obviously moved by the company he was in. I had heard Wynton already with Art Blakey, and Herbie with Chick Corea, but Herbie with Ron and Tony was on a different level. At the time I was also 19 and just starting to learn about the music. I think it’s fair to say that I didn’t actually understand a lot from a technical or even musical perspective, but I could tell I was witnessing something special. I know they played ‘If I Were a Bell’ really fast, as well as a couple Wayne Shorter compositions. Music plays different to everybody and this concert had a profound effect on me. I still hear that great rhythm section sound in my head when I recall the night.