DONALD HARRISON QUARTET

It is not for nothing that Donald Harrison Jr. is called “The King of Nouveau Swing.” “I love music that swings and has a certain pulse to it,” he told the San Diego Union Tribune. “So instead of playing a straight reggae beat or a straight hip–hop beat, we merged it with a swing beat. That’s the concept of nouveau swing — it’s swinging, but with new things added in to it.” No matter the musical context – bebop, hard bop, Mardi Gras Indian chant songs or Crescent City–rooted funk – Harrison’s tone on alto sax is imme¬diately recognizable and his style is uniquely personal. In the course of a career spanning more than three decades, he’s performed and recorded with artists and ensembles ranging from Lena Horne and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Louisiana Philharmonic. As an evacuee/survivor of Hurricane Katrina, Harrison had a prominent role in Spike Lee’s HBO documentary “When the Levees Broke.” For the 2005 Jonathan Demme film Rachel Getting Married, starring Anne Hathaway and Debra Winger, Harrison appeared as himself and co–composed the soundtrack; Harrison appeared (again as himself) in 11 episodes of David Simon’s groundbreaking HBO series, “Treme.”