Eric Harland

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 Down Beat'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.

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

Endorsements

Harland plays Sakae drums, Zildjian cymbals, Remo drumheads and Vic Firth sticks.

Discography

As leader

• Voyager: Live by Night
• Vipassana

As sideman

With Charles Lloyd

• Jumping the Creek
• Sangam
• Rabo de Nube
• Mirror
• Athens Concert

With Aaron Parks

• Invisible Cinema

With Taylor Eigsti

• Let It Come to You"
• Daylight at Midnight"

With Walter Smith III

• Casually Introducing Walter Smith lll
• III

With McCoy Tyner

• Land of Giants, 2003

With the Monterey Quartet

• Live at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival

With Terence Blanchard

• Let's Get Lost
• Wandering Moon
• Bounce

With Dave Holland

• Pass It On
• Prism
• Aziza

With Chris Potter

• The Sirens (ECM, 2013)

With Joshua Redman

• Back East
• James Farm

With Kenny Garrett

• Standard of Language

With the 3 Cohens

• Braid

With Jimmy Greene

• Gift and Givers
• True Life Stories
• "Mission Statement"

With Joel Weiskopf

• Devoted to You

With John Swana

• On Target

With Aaron Goldberg

• Tuning Point
• Unfolding
• Worlds
• Home

With Kurt Rosenwinkel

• The Remedy
• Reflections

With Edward Simon

• The Process

With Greg Osby

• "Inner Circle"
• Further Ado

With the SFJAZZ Collective

• SF Jazz Collective Live 2005
• SF Jazz Collective Live 2006
• SF Jazz Collective Live 2007
• SF Jazz Collective Live 2008
• SF Jazz Collective Live 2009
• SF Jazz Collective Live 2010
• SF Jazz Collective Live 2011

With Dayne Stephens

• The Timeless Now

With Zhenya Strigalev

• Smiling Organizm

With Stefano di Battista

• Trouble Shootin'

With Ravi Coltrane

• From the Round Box

With Jacky Terrasson

• Smile

Filmography

[1]

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