NO COVER 5:00pm Show
Zacc Harris is a guitarist and composer based in Minneapolis. With a musical journey that spans various genres, Harris found his true calling in jazz. His guitar playing is characterized by its versatility, seamlessly navigating through intricate melodies, harmonies, and improvisational passages. Harris has established himself as a leading voice in the Twin Cities jazz landscape, garnering praise for his technical prowess and emotive expression. In 2017, following the release of his folk jazz trio recording, American Reverie, he was named Best Twin Cities Jazz Artist by City Pages. His 2021 Zacc Harris Group album Small Wonders received wide critical acclaim including an elusive 4-star review in Downbeat Magazine and a place in their Best Albums of the Year list.
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.”
Bryan Nichols is a pianist, composer, and educator based in Minneapolis. Often found playing jazz and improvised music, but at home in a variety of musical worlds, he leads and composes for his own trio, quintet, and nonet, in addition to performing, recording, and touring with a variety of forward-thinking artists. The Star Tribune has called him “a versatile, daring and inventive keyboardist...one of the Twin Cities' most respected jazz players.” He is a recipient of a prestigious McKnight Fellowship for Performing Artists and a residency at the Kennedy Center for Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead program. Bryan has released two albums as a leader to critical and audience acclaim, an original solo piano work, Looking North, and a suite of originals for his quintet, Bright Places.
