Jesse Harris

Harris and his twin sister were born in New York City. He attended Riverdale Country School in New York City. He graduated from Cornell 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-songwriter Rebecca Martin. This was the first group he was in and his first experience writing for another singer. Once Blue released its self-titled debut on EMI Records in 1995, and nine additional songs were included in the album's re-release in 2003.

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

In 2003, he was awarded a Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "Don't Know Why", performed by Norah Jones. Jones's album, Come Away with Me, includes five of Harris's 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 on Bright Eyes' 2005 album, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, as well as Motion Sickness. He contributed songwriting to Jones's 2008 release, The Fall, as well.

In 2007, Harris delivered songs for the soundtrack of the film The Hottest State, written and directed by actor Ethan 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 album Through the Night and recorded a new version of his song "The Secret Sun" for a Corona beer commercial.^[8][9]

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

Harris and Jones appear together in the 2014 David 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 film Hello, My Name Is Doris, performing his song, "Anything Was Possible".

In 2013, Harris joined John Zorn's Song Project, along with Mike Patton, Sofia Rei, and Sean Lennon, writing lyrics for various Zorn compositions and singing them at festivals worldwide with a band featuring Marc Ribot on guitar, John Medeski on keyboards, and Zorn conducting. Two of the group's albums have been released by Tzadik Records. Harris continued working with John Zorn in the beginning of the 2020s. Zorn and Harris also collaborated on a project which featured singer and violinist Petra Haden alongside the Julian Lage Trio (for whom Harris has produced two albums: Arclight and Modern Lore), plus Harris on guitar.^[12] The resulting albums, Music for Petra (Petra Haden Sings the Zorn/Harris Songbook) and Songs For Petra, were released in 2020 on Tzadik. Most recently, Zorn and Harris wrote a musical, Love Songs. A live album of the songs, featuring Haden, was released by Tzadik.^[13]

Harris already worked with Petra Haden as interpreter of his songs; the album Seemed Like a Good Idea – Petra Haden Sings Jesse Harris released in 2016 on Sunnyside.^[14]

Other artists who have recorded Harris's songs include Smokey Robinson, George Benson, Pat Metheny, Kandace Springs, and Solomon Burke. Songwriting collaborations have included Madeleine Peyroux, Melody Gardot, Maria Gadú, Maya Hawke, and Vinicius Cantuária. Production credits include albums for Forro in the Dark and Sasha Dobson.

In 2017, Harris formed Cosmo, a group for only his instrumental compositions, with CJ 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 producer Jason Lader.

Harris's album Aquarelle was recorded in Lisbon, Portugal, 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, and Jason Lader. On Surpresa, in 2021, Harris closely collaborated again with Vinicius Cantuária.^[15]

He continues to work on multiple projects, both as a bandleader and as a producer. In 2022, Harris's Cosmo released the album But When?, and in 2023, Spring Song. Other production credits for Harris include albums for Papooz (2024's Resonate), 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]