Bio:

Detroit native, Robert Harris grew up listening to the music of George Benson, Stevie Wonder, Hall & Oats and the song writers of the seventies. It was there that his musical aspirations began at the early age of 12. At 16, he began playing guitar and within a year was playing throughout the Detroit area. In 1978, Robert made his way to the Seattle area. He spent several years touring the west coast before heading south to Los Angeles. Within a year of being in L.A. Robert signed with West Management & Record Company where they produced Harris' first CD project "Don't Wait".

Robert's natural talent for the engineering side of the recording business resulted in him quickly becoming the head engineer at West studios. He spent the next 10 years in L.A. arranging and producing projects as a studio musician and sideman.

Robert's first solo smooth jazz CD "Cool Breeze" was released in 2004. This project showcased his talents on writing, producing and arranging. This captured the interest of Sandy Shore, President of Smoothjazz.com. The tracks "Cool Breeze" and "Midnight Rendezvous" were featured on smoothjazz.com for several months and as a result were picked up by several radio stations around the world.

Harris' 2nd release "City Lights" received national recognition with two hits on both the R&R Smooth Jazz charts and the Smooth Jazz Indie Charts. The first single, "Monaco" reached number 23 on the R & R indicator charts received over 1000 downloads in just two weeks by fans worldwide!

"City Lights rich mix of rhythm, melody and feel good vibes is at times intoxicating, invariably pleasing and without a weak link in sight." ~Smooth Jazz Therapy~.

Robert's new CD "Miami Sun" was just released! Read what people inside the industry are saying: "We really dig it! The feel/vibe are right on target." Cliff Gorov & Jason Gorov - All That Jazz

Robert has performed at several large Jazz Festivals, where he opened for various artists like Richard Elliot, Marion Meadows, Gerald Veasley, Walter Beasley, Spyro Gyra, Mindi Abair, Kenny G. and more.

When Robert Harris steps onto a stage, he's smiling... It happens every time. "There's simply no other way to play live music," says the smooth-jazz bandleader. Not for him. "It's just what I am" Harris says. "For me, the glass is more than half full all the time."

One of my passions that I have always enjoyed is I am an avid backpacker. When I lived in Southern California, once a year I would take a 4 to 5 day backpacking trip in the High Sierra mountain range. I have hicked the entire John Muir trail from Yosemite to Mt. Whitney 20 to 30 mile trips at a time. The entire trail is approximately 222 miles, which I still hope to do one day all in one trip. I thought it would be fun to share my passion with you. Below is a slideshow that spans over two decades of time highlighting several of my backpacking trips.

Click on a image to start a slideshow