The Twin Cities local legend was born James Samuel Harris, on April 23, 1927 in Chicago. The death of both his parents at the tender age of 3 left him and his younger sister orphans. Intensifying his distress, Cornbreads legs were deformed. Cornbread was sent to Gillette Children’s Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota for over a year, where the doctors broke his legs and put them in casts to correct them. Hence, Cornbread received a late start in school. In spite of these difficulties, he did very well in his academics and credits his academic success to his physical incapacity. After getting out of the hospital, Cornbread’s existence continued to be chaotic. He and his younger sister were shuffled around from one foster home to another, until at the age of 11 or 12 his grandparents took him in.
Living with his grandparents his life became more stable. Cornbread got his first change at playing piano, but he did not take well to his lessons. At the time, he was much more interested in playing sports after school, but his grandparents insisted he learn enough to play in front of family. His grandmother gave him money every week to pay for lessons. Cornbread attended two or three lessons, before he started spending the money on candy and handing the candy out to his buddies. He only got away with it for a couple of months before his grandparents caught him. When his grandmother noticed his piano playing was not progressing and called his school and there discovered that he had not been to a lesson in several weeks. He received quite a scolding, but said he was glad afterwards. He had confronted the consequences of his misconduct and was able to play sports like he wanted.
Cornbread returned to playing the piano in his late teens. A friend of his had a piano on the front porch. The piano was dreadfully out of tune, but from it he learned to play on any type of piano, in spite whether it was in tune or not. He started a band with friends and they call themselves the Swingmasters. They could play only a few songs and they broke up when Cornbread joined the service during World War II.
In the service, Cornbread played for his fellow soldiers during breaks from duty. It was then that he realized just how many people enjoyed listening to someone play music. To improve on his skills he went to Schmitt Music in downtown Minneapolis and purchased a chord book. The diversity of style and songs he was able to play enhanced tremendously. Cornbread then started a new Swingmasters and played in several other people’s bands.
In 1940’s, Cornbread started his own band and established a reputation on the local music scene. In those days, he was known as Huckleberry, a nickname he had picked up at the age of ten, when he went to camp wearing a straw hat and carrying his belongings in a shirt on a stick. This nickname stuck until he wrote the song “Cornbread” which became a crowd favorite.
One of his early career highlights was his collaboration with Augie Garcia in 1955 to record “Hi Ho Silver” the Twin Cities first rock and roll record. Since those early days, he has fronted many bands, and he has held the stage with many musicians, including Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and Archie Bleyer. He has played just about every venue in the Twin Cities, as well as places in Wisconsin, Iowa and Nevada. Cornbread, has won a various awards, including the Minnesota Black Music Award in 1998 and many community service awards for playing at benefits and retirement homes. To date, Cornbread has written over 50 songs.
With Cornbread’s affluent musical background, one may ask what music has influenced him and the answer he will reply is country music. It was country music that was played in the neighborhoods that he lived when he was young. He listened to Hank Williams, Gene Autry, Minnie Perle, Roy Rogers, Tom Mix and music from the Grand Ole Opry. It was at the end of high school, when Cornbread started listening to rhythm and blues music. Cornbread, has always said that the only real difference in the types of music is “flavoring”. “All musicians play the same chords, but they have a way of playing them that makes it sound different".
In time, Cornbread started to recognize blues incorporated in the elements of jazz, which launched his love for jazz. He cites Louis Jordan, Duke Ellington and Count Basie as some of his favorite jazz figures. While his playing became richer, he also started paying attention to vocalist like Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, and Nat King Cole. Cornbread’s favorite pianist is Oscar Peterson. But while he enjoys the music of all these people, Cornbread is quick to point out that he idolizes no one. He always says “that often the guy next door plays just as good or better than some of the people that have become famous. In spite of the many difficulties he has been through, Cornbread is full of life and always hopeful about the future.
Age of 77 in 2004, and don’t let the age fool you Cornbread is young at heart which comes through not only in his ideal, but also his music.
|
"The way the piano keys are played, determines the flavor of the music".
James S."Cornbread" Harris Sr.
|
