A Short Bio

Lee got into music early, first with the clarinet, and later with the sax; in junior high school, the boys formed their first dance band ("The Starlighters"), which eventually turned into a six-piece Dixieland band ("The Savoy Six") that performed all over the east coast while they were still in high school, and subsequently did a three-month European tour ("The Brunotes") in the summer of 1958 which included an engagement at the Brussels Worlds Fair.

After receiving his Master's degree from Manhattan School of Music in 1962, Lee taught music in New Jersey, played about a million gigs, and studied arranging with William Russo in New York. He played at Grossingers Hotel in the Catskills, was Paula Wayne's conductor and musical director and did shows all over the country with her, including the original "Tonight Show" from New York. While enjoying the Catskills mountain air he also fulfilled a long-time dream and got his private pilot's license.

In the early 70's he started a NY jazz-rock big-band "SoundMachine" and then "SoundMachine II"; the band rehearsed and performed all over the east coast until 1976, when the bottom fell out of the music business and they finally disbanded.

At the end of the 70's, after actually building a computer from a kit and parts, and by then totally disgusted with the 'music business', Lee saw the 'handwriting on the wall' and decided to leave teaching for the world of personal computers.

He got a job at one of the first computer stores on the east coast where he built up a great hardware background; managed a "ComputerLand" store for a while, then got into software development.

He was instrumental in helping to create the massive "Yugo America, Inc." dealer communications network; later, when the opportunity came to do the same thing for "Sterling Motor Cars" in Miami, he grabbed it, packed up his horns and his music, and headed south.

Since arriving in Miami, the idea was always there: to start another big-band someday. It was the maturity of the PC and the availability of new, high-powered music publishing software that allowed the quick and relatively painless creation of top-quality big-band music.

It was at the beginning of 1999 that Lee finally decided that "now was the time!".....

Now Is the Time!

The "Lee Harris New Millennium Big Band" was here!

It didn't last long....

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(1) Yeah we played the Metropole Cafe in NY. What a 'PIT' it had become! I remember catching Woody's band there years ago; by 1976 it was just strippers and sleaze! And the walls were completely covered with mirrors, so you can imagine what an 18-piece band sounded like in there! My ears are still ringing....

(2) The COLONY THREE in Nutley could have been a great scene; they had Buddy Rich's band, Kenton, Woody, Maynard, and featured the Lee Harris SoundMachine II EVERY Sunday. Unfortunately, the place was run by morons who had no clue as to how to satisfy a jazz audience:  They hired a single waitress for a crowd of 250 people! Duh!...

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