Since moving to Minneapolis in 2005, Zacc Harris has gained a reputation as one of the area's top guitarists, being named 2017 Twin Cities Best Jazz Artist by the City Pages. He performs in a host of creative projects including Atlantis Quartet, winner of the 2015 McKnight Fellowship and named 2011 Best Jazz Artist, as well as the Zacc Harris Group, American Reverie, and Zacc Harris Trio, which has had the longest running weekly jazz gig in Minnesota since 2007.
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."
Zacc is also a busy sideman, having performed and recorded with countless artists, including Debbie Duncan, Bruce Henry, Babatunde Lea, Eric Gravatt, Ben Wendel, Michael Janisch, Marquis Hill, Aby Wolf and Nancy Harms. Currently, he plays as a sideman with Jt Bates' Grain Trio, Lars-Erik Larson’s Mancrush, Cory Healey's Beautiful Sunshine Band, Dean Granros' Tall Tales, Dave Power’s ’69 Dodge and Adam Meckler Quintet.
A graduate of Southern Illinois University, Zacc has studied privately with Adam Rogers, Jonathan Kreisberg, Gilad Hekselman, Lage Lund, Nir Felder, Miles Okazaki, Liberty Ellman, Mike Moreno, Steve Cardenas, Matthew Stevens and Fareed Haque. Zacc has taught privately for the past 20 years and is currently adjunct faculty in the music department at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN and Carleton College in Northfield, MN.
Accolades:
2017 City Pages Best Jazz Artist
2016 Minnesota Emerging Composer Award
2015 McKnight Fellowship For Performing Musicians (Atlantis Quartet)
2011 City Pages Best Jazz Artist (Atlantis Quartet)