Jesse Harris
Jesse Harris by Becky Siegel
Background information
Born	(1969-10-24)October 24, 1969 (age 56) New York City
Genres	Pop,folk,jazz
Occupations	Songwriter, producer, musician
Labels	Artwork, Secret Sun
Website	jesseharrismusic.com

Jesse Harris (born October 24, 1969) is an American songwriter, producer, and guitarist. He has worked withNorah Jones (whose version of his song "Don't Know Why" won him theGrammy for Song of the Year in 2003),Melody Gardot,Madeleine Peyroux, andLizz Wright.^[1]

Harris and his twin sister were born in New York City. He attendedRiverdale Country School in New York City. He graduated fromCornell University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.^[2][3]

Jesse Harris's music has been described as a "blend [of] folk, rock, jazz, and world rhythms."^[4]

Harris gave guitar lessons and performed in musical groups before he formed the duo Once Blue with singer-songwriterRebecca Martin. This was the first group he was in and his first experience writing for another singer.Once Blue released its self-titled debut onEMI Records in 1995 and nine additional songs were included in the album's re-release in 2003.

Harris signed as a songwriter withSony Publishing in 1998 and then made three self-released recordings with his new band, The Ferdinandos, consisting of Harris,Tony Scherr, Tim Luntzel, andKenny Wollesen.^[5] The band released two more albums on sublabels ofVerve Records. Harris recorded three solo albumsMineral,Feel, andWatching the Sky on his own label, Secret Sun Recordings.^[1]

In 2003, he was awarded aGrammy Award forSong of the Year for "Don't Know Why", performed byNorah Jones. Jones's album,Come Away with Me, includes five of Harris' compositions: "Don't Know Why," "Shoot the Moon," "One Flight Down," "I've Got to See You Again," and "The Long Day Is Over." Harris plays guitar throughout the whole album. Jones and Harris have collaborated numerous times since then. Jones has been a guest on many of his albums and he appears as guitarist on almost all of her albums. Harris appears as a guitarist onBright Eyes' 2005 album,I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, as well asMotion Sickness. He contributed songwriting to Jones' 2008 releaseThe Fall as well.

In 2007, Harris delivered songs for the soundtrack of the filmThe Hottest State, written and directed by actorEthan Hawke.^[6][7] The soundtrack featured new versions of his songs by Jones,Willie Nelson,Emmylou Harris,Feist,Cat Power,M. Ward,The Black Keys,Bright Eyes,Brad Mehldau and Rosario Ortega.^[6] He also acted in the film.

In August 2010, Harris released his albumThrough the Night and recorded a new version of his song "The Secret Sun" for aCorona beer commercial.^[8][9]

Harris's 11th album,Sub Rosa, recorded inRio de Janeiro, was released in July 2012^[10] and features guest vocals fromConor Oberst,Melody Gardot, and Norah Jones.^[11] Harris's 12th album, the stripped downBorne Away, was released on June 25, 2013.

Harris and Jones appear together in the 2014David Wain/Michael Showalter film,They Came Together, performing his song, "It Was the Last Thing on Your Mind," which Harris produced. In 2016, he appeared in Showalter's filmHello, My Name Is Doris, performing his song, "Anything Was Possible."

In 2013, Harris joinedJohn Zorn'sSong Project along withMike Patton,Sofia Rei, andSean Lennon, writing lyrics for various Zorn compositions and singing them at festivals worldwide with a band featuringMarc Ribot on guitar,John Medeski on keyboards, and Zorn conducting. Two of the group's albums have been released byTzadik Records. Zorn and Harris also collaborated on a project which featured singer and violinistPetra Haden alongside theJulian Lage Trio (for whom Harris has produced two albums,Arclight andModern Lore), plus Harris on guitar. The resulting album,Music for Petra (Petra Haden Sings the Zorn/Harris Songbook), was released in 2020 on Tzadik.

Harris already worked with Petra Haden as interpreter of his songs; the albumSeemed Like a Good Idea – Petra Haden Sings Jesse Harris came out in 2016 onSunnyside.^[12]Other artists who have recorded Harris's songs includeSmokey Robinson,George Benson,Pat Metheny,Kandace Springs, andSolomon Burke. Songwriting collaborations have includedMadeleine Peyroux,Melody Gardot,Maria Gadú,Maya Hawke, andVinicius Cantuária. Production credits include albums forForro in the Dark,Sasha Dobson

In 2017, Jesse started Cosmo, a group for only his instrumental compositions, withCJ Camerieri (trumpet, flugelhorn, and French horn), Will Graefe (guitar), Jeremy Gustin (drums),Benjamin Lazar Davis (bass), Michael Boshcen (trombone), and Harris (guitar). They are currently working on an album with producerJason Lader.

Harris's albumAquarelle was recorded inLisbon, Portugal, and released in September 2018, and features Gustin and Graefe, Ricardo Dias Gomes (bass, keyboards), Petra Haden,Valerie June,Sophia Brous,Thomas Bartlett,Rob Moose,Jesse Carmichael,Marcelo Camelo, andJason Lader. OnSurpresa, in 2021, Harris closely collaborated again withVinicius Cantuária.^[13]

Harris continued working with John Zorn in the beginning of the 2020s. In 2020, Zorn and Harris releasedSongs For Petra, which features vocalist Petra Haden and the Julian Lage Trio (for whom Harris has produced two albums,Arclight andModern Lore).^[14] Most recently, Zorn and Harris wrote a musical,Love Songs. A live album of the songs, featuring Haden, is released by Tzadik Records.^[15]

He continues to work on multiple projects, both as a bandleader and as a producer. In 2022 Cosmo, Harris' instrumental project, released the album,But When?, and in 2023,Spring Song. Other production credits for Harris include albums for Papooz (2024'sResonate), Maya Hawke, and Gabi Hartmann. A new solo album,If You Believed In Me, featuring orchestral arrangements by Maycon Ananias, plus guest appearances by Norah Jones, Jake Sherman and Marine Quéméré, was released in November 2025.^[16]

• Official website
• NPR story onThe Hottest State

• 1969 births
• Living people
• American folk guitarists
• American male guitarists
• American male singer-songwriters
• Cornell University alumni
• Grammy Award winners
• Dangerbird Records artists
• Downtown Records artists
• Tzadik Records artists

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from September 2020
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Pages using infobox musical artist with associated acts