Zacc Harris

Since moving to Minneapolis in 2005, Zacc Harris has gained a reputation as one of the area's top guitarists, being named 2017 Twin Cities Best Jazz Artist by the City Pages. He performs in a host of creative projects including Atlantis Quartet, winner of the 2015 McKnight Fellowship and named 2011 Best Jazz Artist, as well as the Zacc Harris Group, American Reverie, and Zacc Harris Trio which has had the longest running weekly jazz gig in Minnesota since 2007.  
  Harris has toured as leader and sideman throughout the US and UK, including a 2016 run with Zacc Harris Group at London's famed Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. Jazz Improv Magazine says, "Harris delivers a sound that is lucid, clear...providing rich-sounding accompaniment, and well-crafted solos" while Cadence Magazine calls some of Harris' work with Atlantis Quartet "worthy of John McLaughlin." MPR News states, "Harris makes his own mark on standards with enough new hooks to keep jazz alive."   As co-leader of Atlantis Quartet, Harris has released five critically acclaimed albums since 2006, as well as a digital anthology of the band's first decade together. Renowned jazz critic Bill Milkowski wrote for JazzTimes Magazine, "Twin Cities modern jazz renegades shift nimbly from a punk-jazz aesthetic to ECM-ish sensitivity...startlingly original stuff."   In 2012, Harris released his first album as leader, THE GARDEN, on Shifting Paradigm Records. City Pages writer Rick Mason says, "The Garden showcases Harris's compositions, which adeptly and compellingly link the past and future of jazz, and guitar work, which is consistently articulate with an enticing fluidity seemingly influenced by the likes of Wes Montgomery and Pat Metheny." The American Composers Forum chose Harris for one of its three Minnesota Emerging Composers Awards in 2016, to write and record a second album with this group, due out in September 2021.    In 2017, Harris released his second album as leader, a trio project called AMERICAN REVERIE on which he explored a range of nostalgic songs, from Americana classics to Bob Dylan, re-imagined with a jazz tilt. The album received high acclaim with the Star Tribune calling it "quietly resonant" and City Pages saying, "It’s a collection of smart contemporary jazz interpretations of folk standards...Harris’ eloquent guitar work highlights pointed commentary with a deft array of melodic abstractions, tempo shifts and harmonic changes." All About Jazz wrote, "the arrangements are full of fresh twists, all played with an understated warmth."    In Fall of 2021, Harris will release Small Wonders on Shifting Paradigm, the long awaited Zacc Harris Group follow up to The Garden. The album features 9 new originals and a allstar sextet with John Raymond, Brandon Wozniak, Bryan Nichols, Chris Bates and JT Bates.

Zacc is also a busy sideman, having performed and recorded with countless artists, including Debbie Duncan, Bruce Henry, Babatunde Lea, Eric Gravatt, Ben Wendel, Michael Janisch, Marquis Hill, Aby Wolf and Nancy Harms. Currently, he plays as a sideman with Jt Bates' Grain Trio, Lars-Erik Larson’s Mancrush, Cory Healey's Beautiful Sunshine Band, Dean Granros' Tall Tales, Dave Power’s ’69 Dodge and Adam Meckler Quintet.  

Awards

2011 City Pages Best Jazz Artist (Atlantis Quartet) 2011 Minnesota Monthly Magazine's Artists To Watch 2015 McKnight Fellowship For Performing Musicians (Atlantis Quartet) 2015 Next Step Award 2016 Minnesota Emerging Composer Award