Kodac Harrison
grew up slowly in Jackson,
Ga. where he lived in the same house for the first 18
years of his life. Since then, Kodac has lived in New
Orleans, Texas, California, New York City, and high
upon a ridge in West Virginia. His home now is in
Atlanta where he has fronted several bands and made
14 recordings of original songs for 3 different record labels.
Harrison, whose roots are in Blues and Southern Soul,
calls his music "Beatnik Blues," the
Europeans call it "Bohemian Blues", and
Critics call it "Folk-Soul". As an acoustic
guitarist, he uses a wide variety of tones. The songs
he writes are as distinctive as his baritone voice.
Kodac is influenced by many authors and songwriters,
but occasionally he has to have a fix of Howling
Wolf, Otis Redding or Sonny Rollins. Harrison
performs solo, as a spoken word artist, and with a
band that varies from 3 to 10 pieces. As a musician
he has been on the bill with Patti Smith, Marianne
Faithful, John Mayer, NRBQ, Delbert McClinton, The
Indigo Girls, Alejandro Escovado, Ellis Paul, Brendan
O'Brien, Min Xiao-Fen etc. As a poet he has been
billed with Maya Angelou, Patricia Smith, Pearl
Cleage, Thomas Lux, Rosemary Daniell, Saul Williams,
Cecilia Woloch, Kurtis Lamkin etc. Kodac's written
songs for two movies; "Dead Aim," and
"Mace," and appeared on film as a spoken
word artist in the indepently produced, "Prayers
From The Phoenix City." Kodac was a member of
the 2000 & 2001 Athens, Ga. Poetry Slam teams.
Also in 2001, Kodac was commissioned to write the
song he performed at the Andrew Young tribute. The
tribute was hosted by Maya Angelou and Harry
Belefonte and attended by 1500 guests including Ray
Charles and President Clinton. Harrison was also
honored to performed for former President Jimmy
Carter at the Carter Center in 2001. In 2002, Kodac
was the master of ceremony at the Nader Rally where
he introduced and sang with Patti Smith. Kodac was
named "Best Spoken Word Artist" (critic's
choice in 2002 and reader's choice in 2003 &
2004) in Atlanta's Creative
Loafing. In the spring of 2003,
Kodac released his 10th full-length studio recording, Portraits
& Passages. In the fall of
2004, he embarked on his 6th tour of Europe
performing at the Prague International Jazz festival
and in Germany. In 2004 Kodac was named Chairman of
the community board of "Poetry Atlanta". Kodac is
the co-editor of two anthologies of poetry. He was
honored for his contributions to poetry in 2005 at the Southern
Poetry Conference and again at the 43rd annual Georgia Author of the
Year Awards in 2007. In Sept. 2007, Kodac Harrison released
Dreams and Nightmares. Kodac is one of the current
Atlanta slam masters and host the award winning Java Monkey
Speaks. (To hear samples of music and spoken word go to Kodac's My
Space.)
Musician and spoken-word artist
Kodac Harrison is internationally known for his
vibrant character studies and clever word play. His
seventh CD, Portraits and Passages,
captures his at his best, spinning tales of travel
both real and imagined. Lee Smith, Creative
Loafing Atlanta
While too many of his peers,
longtime veterans of the scene, have given up or stay
content to go through the same familiar motions they
always have, Kodac Harrison keeps finding new,
unconventional avenues to get his art across. Jeff
Clark, Stomp and Stammer.
Imagine a Southern
Tom Waits or a rural Leonard Cohen. That's as close
as we can come to a nut-shell description of the
music of Kodac Harrison, a genuinely gifted artist
and one of the southeast's musical treasures.
Creative Loafing, Savannah, Ga.
You gotta hand it
to Harrison; his refusal to heed contemporary trends
has lent him a certain authenticity that many lesser
talents would kill for. Drawing from the miscreant
singer-songwriter tradition of early Tom Waits and
Warren Zevon, his cautionary urban tales ring true
and rock hard. Creative Loafing, Atlanta,
Ga.
Kodac
Harrison-The Blue Plate Special man
works poetry and spoken word in with his folk-soul to
produce music of rare intelligence and passion. An
unforgettable performer and a local hero of sorts,
Harrison's husky voice and presence can captivate
even in the midst of the crowds. Hal Horowitz, Creative
Loafing, Atlanta, Ga.
Kodac Harrison
introduced himself and started to play. Wow! Bluesy
and poetic, he puts on a show. He dances, he sings,
and gets you lost in the rhythm of his music. Every
once in a while, in the midst of your toe tapping,
you might actually notice a lyric. Some of them just
jump out at you and scream. You hear spoken word and
bluesy rhythms, then all of a sudden...BAM! He rocks
out and slaps you in the face.
Nykki Lawstuen, Creative Loafing
Savannah, Ga.
Kodac Harrison's
Songtexte sind Literatur, sind Gedichte.
Kodac Harrison's lyrics are literature, are poetry.
Udo Hinz, Goettinger Tageblatt, Germany
You can e-mail kodac
at kodacharrison@mindspring.com
aand go to MySpace.com/kodacharrison to hear music and see
additional photos.
