Mark Harris II is a prodigious keyboardist, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and composer. Born in Los Angeles, California and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, he has always been surrounded by music. Harris credits his early influences to his father, a jazz enthusiast, along with his church family.

 

He graduated from Lincoln University in 2012 with a Bachelor of Sacred Music- Emphasis in Percussion. As Harris began to perfect his craft, he developed a love for melodies. His sound applies diverse productions along with eclectic grooves. Each tune is an assortment of fusion, contemporary jazz, and r&b intonations.

 

 Since emerging onto the smooth jazz scene in 2013, he has released three singles: Traveler (2020) and Pocket Change (2021) and his new release 6IX (The Odyssey) (2023). As well as two notable albums, Imagine (2015) and Interstellar (2018). Harris’ artistry has yielded opportune exposure and capability. In 2018 he obtained great knowledge and inspiration while touring with artists abroad in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, American Samoa, Hong Kong, and Canada. Harris has also served as the music director for r&b national recording artists Tweet, Glenn Jones, Carl Thomas, Dave Hollister, and Chrisette Michele.  He is honored to have been an opening artist for Grammy Award winner Gregory Porter at the Music At The Intersection Festival held at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, MO (2021).  In 2021, he completed his artist in residence with the Kranzberg Arts Foundation. Within that platform, he gave back to his community and bestowed monthly live and online streaming concerts. Among his other honors, he won the A-List awards St. Louis (2022) for Best Original Band and Best Local Musician.  His relentless work ethic and ambition led to the achievement of being inducted into the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity in November of 2022.  And his accomplishments were furthered when Lincoln University introduced Harris into the Lincoln University-Missouri Young Alumni Honors Class of '23 for being a distinguished and influential member of the community. 2023 also bared him the honor of writing the song Luna, a track off Najee's latest album, Savoir Faire, that also features Harris. His impressive talents and collaboration led to Najee officially inviting him to join his band. Najee has since been a mentor and has given growth to Harris' knowledge of the business and provided him the opportunity to grow as an artist. But he is no stranger to working with such extraordinary artists, throughout his artistic career, Harris is grateful to have shared the stage with Adam Hawley, Phil Denny, Mali Music, Jubu Smith, Julian Vaughn, Marion Meadows, Pieces of a Dream, and Norman Brown. Harris is currently in the studio working to put out his third album to be released in 2024. He has made mention of collaborating with Reza Khan, Aaron Janik, and Najee on the current album.

Harris’s drive to thrive and navigate within the music industry is fueled by his passion to provide a positive impact on the world through sound. As his recording catalog persistently grows, he will continue to shape the future of jazz for the generations to come and ensure the genre never becomes stagnant.