Eric Harland

American jazz drummer

Eric Harland
Harland performing in Munich, Germany with the SFJAZZ Collective on March 10, 2010
Background information
Birth name	Eric Dusean Harland
Born	(1976-11-08) November 8, 1976 (age 47) Houston, Texas, United States
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician, bandleader
Instrument(s)	Drums

Website	[1]

Musical artist

Eric Harland (born November 8, 1976, in Houston, Texas) is an American jazz drummer.

In addition to leading his own group, Harland is a member of Charles Lloyd's Quartet, Dave Holland's Prism, James Farm with Joshua Redman, and Taylor Eigsti's Trio.

He has also been a member of McCoy Tyner's Quartet, Kurt Rosenwinkel's Standards Trio, Aaron Goldberg's Trio, Julian Lage's Trio, Chris Potter's Trio, and Terence Blanchard's Quintet, among other groups.^[1]^[2] He was a member of the SFJAZZ Collective from 2005 to 2012.

Biography

Harland began his professional career in 1993 playing locally in Houston, Texas, as he finished high school at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where many notable performers have studied. Harland won first chair in 1992–93 with the Regional and All State Texas Jazz Band. He received a special Citation for Outstanding Musicianship in 1994 from the International Association for Jazz Education. During a workshop in high school, Wynton Marsalis encouraged Harland to study in New York City.

After graduation Harland attended the Manhattan School of Music with a full scholarship in their music program. After music school he went on to study Theology at Houston Baptist University (College of Biblical Studies) and was subsequently ordained as a Minister.

Harland has been featured on over 80 recordings with various artists. Among these recordings, Let's Get Lost and Wandering Moon (Terence Blanchard), Back East (Joshua Redman), and Land of Giants (McCoy Tyner) were nominated for Grammy Awards. With Blanchard and Spike Lee, Harland has performed in 18 motion picture movie scores, including The Caveman's Valentine, Original Sin, People I Know, and Dark Blue.

Harland has toured and recorded with Mark Turner, Larry Grenadier, Ravi Coltrane, Wynton Marsalis, Betty Carter, Joe Henderson, Walter Smith III, Aaron Parks, John Patitucci, Zakir Hussain, and others.

In DownBeat's 65th Annual Readers Poll, Harland was included on the short list of world's most recognized drummers along with Elvin Jones and Roy Haynes. He also won the 2008 and 2009 Critics Polls for Rising Star on the Drums. Harland was featured in the September 2002 and November 2009 issues of Modern Drummer.

Harland released his debut album, Voyager: Live by Night, in late 2010. It features Walter Smith III, Julian Lage, Taylor Eigsti and Harish Raghavan.

Harland's second album, Vipassana, was released on August 11, 2014.^[3]

In April 2017, Harland opened a state-of-the-art recording studio in New York City called GSI Studios, with partners Daniel Rovin and Austin White.^[4]

Discography

As leader

Voyager: Live by Night (Space Time, 2011)
Vipassana (GSI, 2014)
13th Floor (GSI, 2018)

As group

SFJAZZ Collective

Live 2005: 2nd Annual Concert Tour - The Works of John Coltrane (SFJAZZ, 2005)[2CD]
Live 2006: 3rd Annual Concert Tour - The Music of Herbie Hancock (SFJAZZ, 2006)[2CD]
Live 2007: 4th Annual Concert Tour - The Works of Thelonious Monk (SFJAZZ, 2007)[2CD]
Live 2008: 5th Annual Concert Tour - The Works of Wayne Shorter (SFJAZZ, 2008)[3CD]
Wonder (SFJAZZ, 2012) – compilation

James Farm
With Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks and Matt Penman

James Farm (Nonesuch, 2011)
City Folk (Nonesuch, 2014)

As sideman

With Terence Blanchard

Wandering Moon (Sony, 2000) – recorded in 1999
Let's Get Lost (Sony, 2001)
Bounce (Blue Note, 2003)

With Ravi Coltrane

From the Round Box (RCA Victor, 2000) – recorded in 1999
Spirit Fiction (Blue Note, 2012)

With Taylor Eigsti

Let It Come to You (Concord, 2008)
Daylight at Midnight (Concord, 2010)
Tree Falls (GSI, 2021)

With Aaron Goldberg

Turning Point (J-Curve, 1999)
Unfolding (J-Curve, 2001)
Worlds (Sunnyside, 2006)
Home (Sunnyside, 2010)
Bienestan (Sunnyside, 2011)
The Now (Sunnyside, 2014)

With Jimmy Greene

True Life Stories (Criss Cross, 2006)
Mission Statement (Sunnyside, 2009)

With Rigmor Gustafsson

Close to You (ACT, 2004)
Alone with You (ACT, 2007)

With Dave Holland

2007: Pass It On (Dare2, 2008)
2012: Prism (Dare2, 2013)
2015: Aziza (Dare2, 2016)

With Rodney Jones

Right Now (Minor Music, 1996)
The "X" Field (MusicMasters, 1996)
The Undiscovered Few (Blue Note, 1999)

With Stephanie K.

Subterranean Dream (Musicom, 2007)

With Kathy Kosins

Vintage (Mahogany, 2005)
Uncovered Soul (Maristar, 2018)

With Charles Lloyd

Jumping the Creek (ECM, 2005) – recorded in2004
Sangam (ECM, 2006)
Rabo de Nube (ECM, 2008)
Mirror (ECM, 2010)
Athens Concert (ECM, 2011)
I Long to See You (Blue Note, 2016)
Passin' Thru (Blue Note, 2017)
Vanished Gardens (Blue Note, 2018)
8: Kindred Spirits (Live from the Lobero) (Blue Note, 2019)

With Greg Osby

Further Ado (Blue Note, 1997)
Inner Circle (Blue Note, 2002)

With Chris Potter

The Sirens (ECM, 2013)
Circuits (Edition, 2019)
Sunrise Reprise (Edition, 2021)

With Kurt Rosenwinkel

The Remedy (ArtistShare, 2008)[2CD] – live recorded in2006
Reflections (Wommusic, 2009)

With Mark Shim

Mind Over Matter (Blue Note, 1998)
Turbulent Flow (Blue Note, 2000)

With Alex Sipiagin

Destinations Unknown (Criss Cross, 2011)
Overlooking Moments (Criss Cross, 2013)
Balance 38-58 (Criss Cross, 2015)
Moments Captured (Criss Cross, 2017)
NoFo Skies (Blue Room Music, 2019)

With Walter Smith III

Casually Introducing (Fresh Sound, 2006)
III (Criss Cross, 2010)
Twio (Whirlwind, 2018)

With Dayna Stephens

The Timeless Now (CTA, 2007)
Peace (Sunnyside, 2014)
Liberty (Contagious Music, 2020)

With Baptiste Trotignon

Share (Naive, 2008)
Suite... (Naive, 2009)

With McCoy Tyner

Land of Giants (Telarc, 2003) – recorded in 2002
Afro Blue (Telarc, 2007) – compilation

With others

Joey Alexander, Eclipse (Motema, 2018) – recorded in 2017
Diego Barber, One Minute Later (Sunnyside, 2017)
Steve Barry, In the Waves (Earshift Music, 2023)
Monika Borzym, Girl Talk (Sony, 2011)
Zach Brock, Almost Never Was (Criss Cross, 2012)
Donald Brown, Fast Forward to the Past (Space Time, 2008)
Billy Childs, Rebirth (Mack Avenue, 2017)
Theo Croker, Star People Nation (Masterworks, 2019)
Lars Danielsson, Tarantella (ACT, 2009) – recorded in 2008
Stefano di Battista, Trouble Shootin (Blue Note, 2007)
Liberty Ellman, Tactiles (Pi, 2003)
John Escreet, Learn to Live (Blue Room Music, 2018)
Kenny Garrett, Standard of Language (Warner Bros., 2003)
Stefon Harris, Black Action Figure (Blue Note, 1999)
Jose James, Yesterday I Had the Blues (Blue Note, 2015)
Sara Leib, Secret Love (OA2, 2012)
Michael Leonhart, Suite Extracts Vol. 1 (Sunnyside, 2019)
Lionel Loueke, Close Your Eyes (Newvelle, 2018)
Takashi Matsunaga, Today (Somethin' Else, 2004)
Ross McHenry, Nothing Remains Unchanged (First Word, 2020)
Bill Mobley, Moodscape (Space Time, 2007)
Jason Moran, Soundtrack to Human Motion (Blue Note, 1999) – recorded in 1998
Mike Moreno, Lotus (World Culture Music, 2015)
Wolfgang Muthspiel, Where the River Goes (ECM, 2018)
Aaron Parks, Invisible Cinema (Blue Note, 2008)
Joshua Redman, Back East (Nonesuch, 2007)
Bob Reynolds, Can't Wait for Perfect (Fresh Sound, 2006)
Edward Simon, The Process (Criss Cross, 2002)
Shayna Steele, Rise (Ropeadope, 2015)
Helen Sung, Going Express (Sunnyside, 2011)
John Swana, On Target (Criss Cross, 2003)
Gregory Tardy, Serendipity (Impulse!, 1998)
Jacky Terrasson, Smile (Blue Note, 2002)
Myron Walden, Hypnosis (NYC 1996)
Ben Wendel, The Seasons (Motema, 2018)
Yelena Eckemoff, Lonely Man and His Fish (L & H Production, 2023)

Filmography

Bojangles (2001)
Bamboozled
Original Sin
People I Know
The Caveman's Valentine
Dark Blue
Pig Hunt
Euphoria (2022)

Source:^[5]

References

^ "Eric Harland". Drummerworld. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
^ "Eric Harland". Allmusic. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
^ "Eric Harland's Voyager: Eric Harland's Voyager: Vipassana album review @ All About Jazz". July 29, 2014.
^ "GSI Studios". GSI Studios. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
^ "Eric Harland musician - All About Jazz".