Harrison Bankhead Death, Obituary – Harrison Bankhead was a double-bassist who plays jazz in the United States. In the early 1980s has died on April 9, 2023. Bankhead started becoming known for his involvement in the Chicago jazz scene. In the beginning of his career, he shared the stage with Fred Anderson both on tour and at the Velvet Lounge, a club owned by Anderson in Chicago. Bankhead was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and has collaborated with artists such as Oliver Lake, Roscoe Mitchell, Von Freeman, Malachi Thompson, 8 Bold Souls, and Hamid Drake.
He has also worked with Von Freeman. Morning Sun/Harvest Moon was his first album as a leader and was released in 2011 on the sub-label Engine of ESP-Disk. It included Edward Wilkerson, Jr., Mars Williams, James Sanders, Avreeayl Ra, and Ernie Adams as sidemen.After this, he released Velvet Blue, a collaboration with Wilkerson, Williams, and Ra. Both the name of the album and the main tune pay homage to Fred Anderson and the Velvet Lounge.
A loved one said, ”I give you… Harrison Bankhead! bassist, musician, and artist of the highest kind. A cornerstone of the jazz scene in Chicago. Harrison and I have collaborated musically and recorded together on multiple occasions, and every time we did, the experience was pure Joy.
Harrison was one of those forward-thinking cats that constantly had fresh tracks, maintained a laid-back attitude, respected and supported everyone, and did it all the time. He is fortunate and will be dearly missed.”