Dubbed as “one of the most important young artists in jazz” by the Los Angeles Times, 31-year-old vibist/marimbist Stefon Harris brings his hot ensemble, Blackout, to the Iridum for six nights, September 7-12.

Photo by Andrea Canter

A native of Albany, New York, Harris began playing piano at six and ultimately gained proficiency on more than a dozen instruments, attaining the principal percussionist chair with the Empire State Youth Orchestra as a high school student and going on to graduate from the Manhattan School of Music with a BA in classical music and an MA in jazz performance. Harris has received wide recognition through 3 Grammy nominations (including 2003 for his recording, “Grand Unification Theory”); has been named “Best Mallet Player” for the past 5 years by the Jazz Journalists Association, and has received various awards from Jazz Times, Downbeat, Jazziz, Newsweek, and more. His diverse resumé includes performances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Dutch Metropole Orchestra, and at the North Sea and Umbria Jazz Festivals, as well as tours of South Africa, Brazil, and Europe. Among his recording credits include partnerships with Max Roach, Wynton Marsalis, Cassandra Wilson, Buster Williams, Charlie Hunter, and many other top jazz artists. Additionally he is committed to jazz education and conducts numerous clinics and workshops at schools and universities throughout the country.

Unlike his last project, “Grand Unification Theory,” an eleven-movement composition tinged with Latin, African, classical, and jazz involving 12 musicians, Harris’ band “Blackout” features a quintet that merges acoustic and electronic music. Noted one recent critic, Blackout is “soulful ensemble jazz on a melodic R&B tip laced with a grooved down hip-hop backbeat.” Explains Harris, "We’re looking to find a way of letting go and taking ownership of our music without letting anyone else define it. We grew up listening to music that thumped. We love jazz and respect it and we think jazz should thump."

Joining Harris in Blackout are four musicians with their own solid credentials: Marc Cary is a well-established keyboardist with diverse tastes ranging from post bop to Afro-Cuban to electric funk. Early in his career he worked with Roy Hargrove, Betty Carter, and with Abby Lincoln as pianist and arrantger. Harris describes Cary as “an immensely imaginative musician with his own sound and has an uncanny ability to make an electric keyboard sound acoustically organic.” Sax man Casey Benjamin—who can also play the Fender Rhodes, began playing professionally at age 12, and has worked with Buster Williams, Betty Carter, Wynton Marsalis, and Chick Corea. Says Harris, “Casey Benjamin has a vocal tone filled with soul, passion and fire.” On bass is Darryl Hall, winner of the 1995 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition and a recent member of Regina Carter’s quartet who, according to Harris, “can take an upright bass and make it bump like an electric.” The drum kit will be well served by Terreon Gully who has worked with such master bandleaders as Christian McBride and Bobby Watson, and with vocalists Dianne Reeves and Abby Lincoln. A highly versatile performer and composer, Gully has performed with many contemporary jazz and hiphop stars and is respected as a composer and arranger as well as dynamic timekeeper.

Stefon Harris and Blackout will bring to the Iridium a highly creative, exhilarating take on contemporary jazz. Of his performance in Columbus, Ohio last year, reviewer Chris Hoven noted that, “With both a set of vibes and a marimba placed side by side, Harris bounded back and forth between each instrument with the dexterity of an acrobat, meanwhile never missing a note and using the space in his lines brilliantly.” Expect hip arrangements of covers from Gershwin to Milt Jackson as well as sizzling new compositions from one of jazz’s most original young voices.

Stefon Harris and Blackout perform September 7-12 at the Iridium in Manhattan at 1650 Broadway (at 51^st). Sets at 8 and 10 pm on weekdays, and at 8, 10 and 11:30 pm on Friday and Saturday nights. Reservations and information at www.iridiumjazzclub.com. More on Stefon Harris at www.stefonharris.com