BIOGRAPHY

Eddie Harris was born October 20, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois. He began his career as a singer in various Baptist churches throughout Chicago. Around the age of 3, Eddie’s cousin, Bernice Benson, who played piano at Eddie’s mother’s church, began teaching him how to play the piano where he learned to play by ear and eventually learned to read music.

Eddie learned to play the clarinet, vibraphone, and saxophone while attending DuSable High School in Chicago, Illinois under the guidance of a well-known and influential musical director, Captain Walter Dyett. Captain Dyett was responsible for the development of several Jazz musicians who came out of Chicago from the 1940’s to the early 1960’s. Eddie always wanted to play the saxophone simply because he admired the way it looked, however in order to play saxophone for Captain Dyett one had to play the clarinet first, so Eddie’s first wind instrument was the clarinet.