Press

Harper’s authority has only grown with age: a half-century on, he stands as one of the most commanding horn men on the planet, a pillar of stirring post-bop jazz whose robust back catalog seems long overdue for rediscovery.
– The New York Times

A luminary figure in post-bop

–The New York Times

He is a soul of sensitivity and intelligence, as well as of explosive, majestic passion.

– San Francisco Chronicle

The soulfulness, joy, and mourning one can hear in his solos come as much from doxology as the prominent artists he has worked with during his career. The connection to the gospel music of his youth continues to guide his music…

– PostGenre

Harper's creative statements demand attention.

– All About Jazz

Billy Harper is the Black Saint. A tenor with grace and elegance in his personality to match his fire and brimstone on the bandstand, Harper possesses all the intensity of Coltrane, yet has a gentle easiness about him.”

– Jazz Weekly

That Billy Harper's tenor saxophone is one of the most distinctive voices in modern jazz is a given.[…] The music… has religious or spiritual subtexts but not at the expense at the power and glory of what is essentially a style that only Harper possesses: literate, majestic, swelling, heavy, expansive and extensive, slightly on the edge, swinging, and always thoroughly visceral.
– AllMusic

Harper… is one of the most captivating improvisers in jazz.
– Los Angeles Times

A charismatic presence onstage, dressed entirely in black leather, Harper calls his listeners to attention. His improvisations are torrential, dance-like and swinging, spiraling upward to mountaintop pronouncements that can leave listeners in a sweat.

– The New York Times

No one composes like Billy Harper. His tunes are noble, soulful and questing.

– The New York Times

His viscous, chocolaty tone and depth-charge bursts from the bottom of his range [are] a stark contrast to the current trend for a post-bop homogeneity of tone in the newer generation of saxophone sounds.
– JazzWise

While influenced by saxophonists like Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, Harper is in no way an imitator. His often lengthy improvisations and compositions showcase an interpersonal style and a heightened sense of experimentalism...
– New Jersey Stage

The way he moves harmony around is genius — it moves things around in a way you’re not taught in school — it’s genius. He turns the rules… inside out.
– Downbeat Magazine