Savannah Harris is a New York City-based drummer, composer and producer. Raised in Oakland, California by musician parents, she gravitated towards the drums at age 2. Steeped in a jazz tradition, Savannah’s more recent work reflects her versatility. She’s performed and recorded with indie and experimental artists Helado Negro, Nick Hakim, Kate Davis, Justin Allen, and Standing on the Corner. Her jazz recordings include releases from Peter Evans, María Grand, and Or Bareket.

She’s performed with Jason Moran, Kenny Barron, Terence Blanchard, Billy Childs, Christian Scott, José James, and Georgia Anne Muldrow. Currently, she’s been working extensively with Christian McBride in his newest ensemble, Aaron Parks, Melanie Charles, and Or Bareket. In 2019, Savannah was awarded the Harlem Stage Emerging Artist Award, and she received her master’s in jazz performance from Manhattan School of Music. She was featured twice in the January 2021 issue of Modern Drummer as both a featured artist and a contributing writer. In October of 2021, she debuted her solo piece “With Inner Sound, Truth” commissioned by Issue Project Room as a tribute to composer Ruth Anderson. Savannah was also featured in Sixteen Journal’s “JAZZ” edition, with portraits shot by photographer James Brodribb.

Since its founding, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem has provided young artists with opportunities to perform as well as curate concerts and events. NJMH Artistic Director Christian McBride started curating performances and presentations at the Museum in 2006, and Artistic Director Jon Batiste began in 2010 while a student at Juilliard.  The excitement and energy those events brought to our community inform our current programming and creative vision. 

As Christian and Jon became globally recognized jazz ambassadors, the Museum continued to provide emerging artists with career-enhancing opportunities to curate events at the Museum.  In 2022, we formalized this initiative as the Jazz Is: Now Curatorial Fellowships, with generous funding from the New York Community Trust’s Edward and Sally Van Lier Fellowship Program.  

Our inaugural cohort of Jazz Is: Now Curatorial Fellows includes vibraphonist Joel Ross and bassist Endea Owens. These innovative artists have already made a splash on the international jazz scene with Joel releasing three albums on the legendary Blue Note record label, and Endea locking in the bass chair in Jon Batiste’s Stay Human band on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Endea and Joel will be performing and curating a variety of events at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem throughout fall 2022.