Al Harrison is a band leader and sideman whose instruments are the trumpet, cornet, and flugelhorn. After having won scholarships to study at the New York Military Academy, the Philadelphia Musical Academy (now known as the University of the Arts), and Temple University, he played and recorded with Dexter Wansel at International Records, toured with Stanley Clark and Si Zentner, and played in several casino show bands in Atlantic City, New Jersey, including having led the Showboat Dixieland Band at the Showboat Casino for many years.
He played in the Dixieland band on the historic steamboat “Delta Queen”, and has backed up such greats as Tony Bennett, Billy Daniels, Jack Jones, and Sammy Davis, Jr. He has two full length live recordings for sale, and is in the process of making more studio recordings. Currently, he is a member of the Mike Carney, Ward Marsten, Scott Romig, Bill Newnam, Phil Giordano, and Midnight Sun Orchestras, as well as being a member of a Traditional Jazz ensemble, ‘Ed Wise and His New Orleans jazz Band’. He is also a freelance musician in the New Jersey, Philadelphia, New York, and Washington DC areas.
Al led his jazz ensemble, the Al Harrison Quintet, on the Somers Point Jazz Society concert series on 9/20/09 and was requested to lead a trio at an event for the Bucks County Performing Arts Institute on 5/21/10. He was also requested to play in a classical orchestra which will be conducted by Blair Bollinger, the bass trombonist of the Philadelphia Orchestra on 10/3/10.
Since forming The Al Harrison Dixieland Band in 2007, he has performed two full length concerts on the Regol Concerts Peerless Performances series (11/18/07 and 11/22/09) and his band played a set on another Regol concert on 11/16/08, sharing the program with the Midnight Sun Orchestra. All of these concerts produced great CD’s which are for sale. Al led his Dixieland band on 7/19/09 on the Tri-State Jazz Society concert series, and on 1/31/10 on the Cape May Traditional Jazz Society series. Al then led his Dixieland band, now in demand, at a Mardi Gras event in Philadelphia’s famous Reading Terminal Market benefitting the wonderful charity Habitat for Humanity on 2/16/10. He led his Dixieland band once again for a New Orleans night on the Somers Point Jazz Society concert series on 2/20/10. Al has been invited back to perform on the Tri-State Jazz Society concert series (12/12/10) and his Dixieland band was chosen to play for a Jazz Bridge benefit on Mardi Gras night, 3/8/11. Habitat for Humanity requested that Al come back and lead his band at their fundraising event on 5/4/10 in the Loews Hotel in center city Philadelphia.
The Al Harrison Dixieland Band was sponsored to perform at three nursing homes, the Greenleaf Nursing and Convalescent Home in Doylestown, PA; the Neshaminy Manor Home in Warrington, PA, and the Meadowview Nursing Home in Northfield, NJ.
The Al Harrison Dixieland Band played on the Mid-Week Jazz concert series at Ocean County College in July 2011 and 2012. Al performed with the Barbone Street Jazz Band in August 2012 for the residents of the Rydal Park apartments, and the Al Harrison Dixieland Band plays on the third Thursday of each month at Jack’s Deli/Restaurant, 8500 Bustleton Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19152. (Details are on the Performance page.) Al and his band will perform for residents at the Green Hill Condominium on October 7, 2012, on the Cape May Traditional Jazz concert series in October, 2012, and on the Tri-State Jazz series in November, 2012.
