In addition to leading his own Big Band. small group, and jazz vocal ensemble, Vandy Harris has toured Brazil with the Governor's State University Jazz Ensemble and has appeared with Edward Wilkerson's Shadow Vignettes on tours of Europe, Japan, and the United States. Appearances were also made with Muhal Richard Abrams' Experimental Ensemble, Ernest Dawkins' Saxophonitus, and in the early seventies with Jack MacDuff throughout the midwest. He has been a member and director of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians' (AACM) Big Band. Through his extensive involvement in music, fie has shared the stage with such notable jazz and blues masters as Anthony Braxton, Amina Myers, Bobby Blue Bland, Muddy Waters, Douglas Ewart, Ron Myers, Woody Shaw, Eddie Henderson, Elvin Jones, Bunky Green, Ari Brown, Don Moye, Chico Freeman, David Baker. James Newton, Kalaparusha Ara Difda, Martha Young, Steve McCall, Wilbur Campbell, Milton Suggs, Fred Anderson, John Young, Walter Bishop, Benny Maupin, Maurice White, Malachi Favors, Henry Threadgill, Von Freeman, George Lewis, Jodie Christian, Ken Chaney, Roscoe Mitchell, George Freeman, PhiI Cohran, The Pharaohs, Lester Bowie, and many others.
Positioning himself prominently in the music world, he has been a board member of the Jazz Institute of Chicago and has been awarded several grants and awards from the National Endowment of the Arts and from communitv arts programs encouraging him to continue to compose and perform music of a high artistic quality
Mr. Harris' musical ability certainly has not been overlooked by his colleagues as many of his compositions have been performed by such jazz stalwarts as Dr. Warrick Carter of Berklee School of' Music, Dr. James Mack of Harold Washington College, Charles Walton of Malcolm X College. Bunky Green of Florida State University, Douglas Turner of Kennedy-King College and Muhal Richard Abrams of the AACM.
Vandy Harris, Jr. continues to positively influence the young musicians of today. His profound skill and experience as a musician commands considerable respect as an avant-garde artist of his time.
