Zacc Harris is a Minneapolis based guitarist, composer, and instructor. While he weaves in and out of many styles and genres, Harris primarily performs jazz. Most notably, Harris currently performs with the ATLANTIS QUARTET, an explosive, progressive, and exciting modern jazz group featuring some of the best young players in the twin cities, including Pete Hennig on drums, Brandon Wozniak on sax, and Travis Schilling on the upright. The quartet performs a perfect blend of original works and tunes by the likes of Dave Holland, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Chris Potter, and more. The ATLANTIS QUARTET performs in what the entertainment rag the Pulse calls a "HOT PICK" the first THURSDAY of each month at Jitters Martini Bar on East Hennepin Ave in northeast Minneapolis from 9:30pm to 12:30am for no cover. The group has also performed at the Dakota Jazz Club, Times Bar, Rossi's, and the Nomad Jazz Series. In August 2007, the quartet released its debut album, AGAIN, TOO SOON, at the Dakota Jazz Club. Visit the band's site to pick up a copy.
In the summer of 2007, Harris joined up with two of the twin cities' most well-known musicians, keyboardist Tanner Taylor and drummer Jay Epstein, to form a B3 Organ trio called COUNTERCLOCKWISE. The group has played just a handful of shows at venues like the Dakota, and is looking to record sometime in the near future.
Harris also heads up the ZACC HARRIS TRIO, which sometimes takes form in a funky organ trio with Jason Craft and Pete Hennig and other times as a modern, ECM flavored sound still with Hennig on drums, but featuring Chris Bates on bass. The group was recently mentioned in Minnesota Monthly as one of the cool local acts making the Dakota the winner of Best Late Night Entertainment.
In addition to these projects, Harris performs with R&B/Funk/Soul artist JOHN STARKEY, which plays every Saturday night from 9:30-12:30 at Jitters and the HARRIS/PETERSON DUO which performs on Sunday evenings at the Riverview Wine Bar in south Minneapolis.
Before moving to the twin cities in August 2005, Zacc Harris had been a fixture in the Southern Illinois music scene for nearly a decade. His first group MADCAP was together from 1997 to 2000, and enjoyed some regional success. MADCAP's funky original sound became very popular locally and helped give a needed spark to the area's original music scene. After releasing an EP in April of 1998 titled "Four Ninety-Nine" and a full-length album "Into the Nebula" just a year later, MADCAP split apart, and Harris turned his focus to jazz, forming the group CARAVAN in March of 2000.
Harris led CARAVAN for five years, performing modern jazz, post-bop, and funk weekly in Carbondale, IL. The group featured Harris on guitar, Dr. Todd Rewoldt on saxophones, Nick Kuypers on upright and electric bass, drummer Wayne Goodwin, and frequent guest Tim Carr on trumpet. CARAVAN released its first CD, Blue Mondays, in May 2005. The album is a collection of live recordings done over several weeks at Tres Hombres. The album Blue Mondays is available on this web site.
In 2001, Harris joined electrified newgrass band BROKEN GRASS which soonafter released a self-titled EP. By 2003, the band was touring the country, propelled by a run of shows with slamgrass icons Leftover Salmon. In December 2004, after playing over 300 shows in 20 states, and releasing the studio album, "Looking Down" and live album "Porkchops and Apple Butter", BROKEN GRASS decided to call it quits. The boys performed one last reunion show at Hangar 9 on Friday, August 5, to a sold out crowd. Thanks to everyone that made it out...
Harris had the honor of joining one of the midwest's longest running jazz groups, MERCY, in the summer of 2002. MERCY has been playing classic jazz and bop weekly since 1972 for no cover, and has been training ground for many great musicians, including Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones (who also toured with Miles Davis).
Keep your eyes on this site as it continues to develop with more information. Read more about Harris' bio in the August 4, 2005 FLIPSIDE article. Anyone interested in taking lessons with Zacc in the twin cities area should call 612.723.8211.
To contact Zacc with regards to anything, please email zacc.harris@gmail.com.