Les Harris

Instructor in Music
Les Harris

Education

B.Mus.Ed. Berklee College of Music

Biography

Mr. Harris has been teaching drums at Phillips Exeter since 1989. He is also the drum instructor at the University of New Hampshire and at the University of Southern Maine.

Mr. Harris is the son of retired Berklee College of Music professor and drummer Les Harris Sr. and began playing the drums at a young age under the tutelage of his father. He was sitting in with jazz greats Tommy Gallant, Herb Pomeroy and Phil Wilson by the time he was 14 and began playing professionally at 15. While at Berklee, he studied with Joe Hunt and Robert Kaufman, and upon graduation studied extensively with legendary drummer Alan Dawson.

Mr. Harris was the drummer with the jazz vocal group The Ritz, appearing on seven recordings and performing worldwide. He has also toured with the Artie Shaw Orchestra, saxophonist Scott Hamilton and vocalist Cheryl Bentyne and performed with Diana Krall’s trio in Boston during the early 1990s.

Mr. Harris was also a member of the New Guitar Summit with Gerry Beaudoin, Duke Robillard and J. Geils and appears on two recordings with that group. A longtime member of the Tommy Gallant Trio and the Paul Broadnax Trio, Mr. Harris has performed with some of the best-known artists in jazz, including Clark Terry, Milt Jackson, Phil Woods, Hank Jones, Ray Brown, James Moody and Sheila Jordan.

Mr. Harris has appeared on more than 50 recordings and currently performs throughout New England with the area’s top jazz musicians.