The back room of the former HDL Center more closely resembles a warehouse than the office of Ted Harris, soft-spoken technology support specialist by day and soulful jazz musician by night.
Harris works long evenings in the West Union Street Office Center, mainly working with the university’s projection and Image Quest systems, but every Tuesday night he heads out early to lead the Word Of Mouth Jazz Band in an open jam at Tony’s Tavern, 7 W. State St.
Jazz tends to be a genre reserved for the hustle and bustle of a big city lifestyle, but Harris said there was something that drew him to the quaint town of Athens.
“I came to Athens to be around other Athenians,” Harris said. “I bought the house and then found a job and then started playing music around town ... but I just believed in myself that I would be able to fit into this town somehow some way.”
Harris played music in high school band and attended Kent State University on a full scholarship for running Track and Field, taking a break from music. He was a 1973 all-American, setting the school’s record in the 800-meter and held it for 31 years.
During his freshman year, however, tragedy struck the university when the National Guard, sent to quell campus protests, shot and killed four students, injuring nine others in what would be known as the May 4 Kent State Massacre.
“They would take the lives of four students and get away with it, and no one served a day in jail,” Harris said. “Nothing has changed and it impressed upon me the difference between those who have power and those who have no power.”
After college he traveled for a number of years, eventually settling with a bunch of friends on an old farm in the country playing jug band music for a living.
“I chose to surround myself with people who love art and music,” Harris said. “(People say) there are only two types of music, good music and bad music, and it doesn’t really matter to me what genre it is.”
Since his years on the farm, Harris has learned to play the clarinet, saxophone, flute and a little guitar, “but everyone knows a little guitar,” he said.
He has played in numerous bands from Cleveland down to Athens and is widely considered by his peers to be one of the best jazz musicians in town.
“I’ve been playing with Ted for seven years, and I tend to find him meek and timid, but when he gets up there he just explodes,” said Roman Warmke, bassist for The Royales. “He’s really refined … can adapt and is casual. He’ll play whatever.”
He plays saxophone in The Royales and fronts Word Of Mouth Jazz Band at Tony’s every Tuesday night, inviting students and locals to come on stage and play with them.
“Athens, Ohio deserves to give themselves a pat on the back for being so accommodating to artists and it’s something that we should never take for granted.”
wh092010@ohiou.edu
