Harrison Bankhead Obituary, Death Cause – Here’s the one and only Harrison Bankhead! bassist, musician, and an artist of the finest caliber all rolled into one. An essential component of the jazz community in Chicago. On several instances, Harrison and I have worked musically together as well as recorded together, and every time we have, the process has been filled with unadulterated joy. Bankhead began gaining notoriety in the early 1980s for his participation in the Chicago jazz scene.
This was the beginning of his rise to prominence. In the beginning of his career, he performed alongside Fred Anderson both on tour and at the Velvet Lounge, a club that Anderson owned in Chicago. Fred Anderson was one of his early musical influences. Bankhead is an artist who has worked with a variety of musicians, including Oliver Lake, Roscoe Mitchell, Von Freeman, Malachi Thompson, 8 Bold Souls, and Hamid Drake.
Bankhead is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Additionally, he has collaborated with Von Freeman. It was his first album as a leader and it was published in 2011 on the sub-label Engine of ESP-Disk. Morning Sun/Harvest Moon was the album’s title. As members of the band’s rhythm section, Edward Wilkerson Jr., Mars Williams, James Sanders, Avreeayl Ra, and Ernie Adams were present.
After this, he came out with the album Velvet Blue, which was a group effort involving Wilkerson, Williams, and Ra. A tribute is paid to Fred Anderson and the Velvet Lounge through the title of the album as well as the album’s lead single. Harrison was one of those forward-thinking cats that always had fresh tunes, had a laid-back demeanor, loved and supported everyone, and did it all the time. He did it all the time. He is blessed, and his presence in our lives will be sorely missed.