Brandon Harper takes on Chicago area jazz venues, music as self-expression

Harper plays during a performance with the NU Jazz Orchestra.

Sammy Krimstein, Reporter

November 3, 2024

At 19 years old, Bienen sophomore and jazz pianist Brandon Harper has performed at renowned venues in the Chicago area and received honors for his musicianship on the national stage.

The hours of time Harper has poured into his craft haven’t felt like work for the young pianist. For Harper, music is a deep-rooted passion.

“I just did it for fun,” he said. “When I’m bored, I’m at the keyboard.”

This summer, Harper was a Ravinia Steans Music Institute Jazz Fellow and performed with groups at Andy’s Jazz Club and the Jazz Showcase, which are venues that have hosted jazz greats dating back to the 1940s from Count Basie to Chick Corea.

Harper said taking the stage at these locations was “nerve-wracking,” and it felt like a step up from the gigs he had been doing before. However, once the notes began to flow, Harper said he was comfortable in his new setting.

“You just realize that you’re just playing for the music,” he said. “You’re here for a reason, and playing for the band is what matters the most.”

He played at these venues in a quartet led by Chicago jazz drummer Isaiah Spencer.

Spencer said he first crossed paths with Harper at jam sessions when Harper was in high school, but it wasn’t until this spring when Spencer called Harper for a gig at a grocery store.

As Spencer began working with Harper more frequently, he said he began to admire his attitude and work ethic.

“(Harper) is good to work with; he’s a very easy-going guy,” Spencer said. “He can accept criticism without getting emotional. He asks a lot of questions, which is very integral.”

While Harper was encouraged by some to venture to other institutions more known for their jazz programs, he said he was thoroughly impressed by Northwestern’s jazz studies program. As a Chicago native, he also said he liked the idea of staying close to home.

Since arriving in Evanston, Harper has been an important force in the family-like community that is the Bienen School of Music’s jazz department. Bienen and Weinberg freshman Ethan Kasparian Weisman said he immediately connected with Harper while settling in at NU. He said a late-night jam session with Harper during Wildcat Welcome helped him ease the nerves of being at college.

While that was the first time they met, Kasparian Weisman was already familiar with Harper. Harper had received plenty of recognition nationwide — he was a YoungArts winner in jazz piano, attended Lincoln Center’s Summer Jazz Academy and was a National Youth Orchestra alternate for jazz piano.

“He’s someone that you hear about,” Kasparian Weisman said. “He has a presence in the national youth jazz community in a way that not a lot of people do.”

Music has always seemed like Harper’s destiny, but it wasn’t always the keyboard calling his name. He played the “Rock Band” music video game for hours on end when he was younger, when his instrument of choice was most often the drums.

His mother, Indira Williams, even remembers him twirling a pencil like a drumstick. She signed him up for his first drum lesson, and he was immediately attached.

“We never had to ask him to practice or anything like that,” she said. “It just came naturally.”

The drums led Harper to the world of classical percussion, where he also excelled, participating in Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras through high school. It wasn’t until middle school when he picked up the piano, now his primary instrument. Unlike the drums, his introduction to piano wasn’t in a formal setting — it was courtesy of YouTube.

He started out learning tunes from some of his favorite artists like Billy Joel and Elton John, analyzing videos online to learn the songs himself. As he continued learning, he dove into more advanced melody and harmony.

He was heavily influenced by the fusion sounds of Steely Dan, which eventually brought him to jazz. In addition to hours of self-motivated practice, Harper fell in love with the legends, ingraining the sounds of jazz in his ears.

Unlike many of his peers, Harper is mostly self-taught.

“It kind of baffles me, how I just didn’t have a teacher,” he said. “I was able to do that stuff.”

As he continued to progress on the piano, he slowly began moving away from the drums. All those years on percussion weren’t for nothing, though. Harper now brings a percussive, drum-like sound to the keyboard — a sound that some have described as unique and organic.

When deciding to prioritize the piano, Harper said he felt like he could have his own sound. The harmony and melody of the piano — distinguishing it from drums — was intriguing to him. Throughout his entire life of music, he keeps coming back to it as a form of self-expression.

“The more you do it the more of an identity it becomes,” he said. “And (the) more new things you learn about yourself.”

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