Trumpeter's Christmas albums are odes to his family and hometown of Adrian

TECUMSEH — On Christmas Eves when Richard Harris was a boy, his family would gather at his grandmother’s home in Hudson.

Eventually, she would make her way to the upright piano and others in the family would gather around, some with their own instruments and others with their voices, to sing Christmas carols.

Harris has captured the spirit of those family celebrations in a pair of albums, “Christmas in My Heart,” which he released in 2022, and “One Magic Christmas,” which he put out this year. The albums feature traditional and contemporary Christmas songs, such as “Silent Night,” “White Christmas,” music from “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” The latest CD features an original tune, "Christmas on the East Side," a tribute to his childhood neighborhood in Adrian.

“That little old house in Hudson, the family homestead, rocked every Christmas Eve, as our family shared the magic of this beautiful holiday together,” Harris wrote in the dedication of “Christmas in My Heart” to his family and all families.

Harris plays trumpet and flugelhorn on the albums, and his musician friends, some of whom he’s known for 40 or more years, accompany him. On “One Magic Christmas” he gives them the moniker The Hwy 50 Band, a reference to M-50, since he and saxophonist Eric Korte live in Tecumseh.

Harris grew up on Adrian’s east side, became an attorney and served a term in 1978-80 as a Lenawee County commissioner before moving to the Washington, D.C., area for a job in 1982. After he retired in 2020, he moved to Tecumseh.

These CDs are the sixth and seventh studio albums Harris has recorded. None of them might have happened if it hadn’t been for the generosity of his boss when he was diagnosed with a rare and often fatal disease.

In 2007, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic diagnosed Harris with primary systemic amyloidosis, a blood disorder. Harris said he went to his doctor to find out why he was feeling so tired that he could barely make it through each day. The prognosis was not good.

“Basically, I had 12 to 15 months to live,” he said.

There was no known cause or cure for the disease.

Harris was vice president and general counsel for the Pohanka Automotive Group, which has about 30 dealerships in the D.C. area. His boss, Jack Pohanka, wanted to do something to help him out after his diagnosis.

“I told him I always had wanted to record a CD with my own jazz group,” Harris said.

Pohanka asked how much that would cost. Harris told him it could be $10,000 to $15,000. Pohanka told him to arrange for the studio time and have all the bills sent to him.

“That was the first CD that I did really in anticipation of my own death,” Harris said.

He recorded that CD, “Songs from My Heart,” in 2008. It has since sold in 146 countries, and the proceeds from it funded the recording of more albums as well as donations toward amyloidosis research.

“It was something I never planned on. It was really for family and friends that I recorded it,” he said.

He couldn’t have continued recording if researchers at the Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore hadn’t discovered new drugs and treatments for the disease.

“After about two years of very intensive treatments where things were very much touch and go, I went into a complete remission and I’ve been healthy ever since,” Harris said.

He was helped by becoming involved with the National Organization of Rare Disorders, which lobbied Congress to get the Orphan Drug Act passed. That created public-private partnerships between the federal government and pharmaceutical companies to make new, life-saving drug treatments possible.

“Fortunately, the doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital were so good, and they were on the cutting edge of this research, and the drugs that they developed I responded to very, very favorably,” Harris said. “They really saved my life.”

He’s done fundraising and concerts for Johns Hopkins in support of what they did for him. He sells the CDs online at www.richardharrislive.com and on Amazon.

All of the albums have been recorded at Solid Sound Studios in Ann Arbor.

Harris started playing trumpet in elementary school — he wanted to play trombone, but those were too expensive to buy or rent and his dad, Morris Harris, played trumpet — and continued through the Adrian High School band program. He also had a lot of professional musicians in his family from whom he’s learned, but he’s self-taught on writing music.

When Harris’ family would make music together at Christmas, his grandmother, Fida Myers, would play from sheet music while the others would play or sing by ear. Harris, his father and his brother James played trumpet, his brother Dave played clarinet, and his mother Tillie and sister Jane sang.

“All the cousins that didn’t play an instrument would sing, and they were known as the ‘Cousins Chorus,’” Harris said.

“Just the experience of doing that was great, as a young boy starting out,” he said. “I had an uncle that played trumpet. My dad and I played trumpet. I learned a lot from these guys that were seasoned musicians.”

His Uncle Joe Harris was perhaps the best musician in the family. He attended the University of Michigan School of Music on a full scholarship and would take over the piano playing on those Christmas Eves when Harris’ grandmother was done playing.

Harris wrote the arrangements for all of the songs on the Christmas albums. For the songs that are not in the public domain, he purchased the rights to do his own arrangements.

“One Magic Christmas” is dedicated to Harris' hometown of Adrian. He grew up on Butler Street, about a block and a half from the fairgrounds, which inspired the original song on the album, the bluesy “Christmas on the East Side.” Harris wrote the music and lyrics, and his friend Bille Lewis provides the vocals on the song.

"A lot of it is kind of autobiographical of having grown up there,” he said.

Harris went to Siena Heights University, and one of the lyrics is, “Working hard and times were tight/Taking all my classes at Siena Heights.”

Later, Harris worked days as an accountant at the Bohn 13 plant while he went to law school at night at the University of Toledo. That inspired the lyric, “Times were mighty lean, working my years at Bohn 13.”

There’s also a shoutout to Louis Vandecaveye of Adrian Brass Works and the vacant lot at the corner of Butler and Addison streets. Vandecaveye kept the lot as a neighborhood park where the kids could play until the streetlights came on in the evening.

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"I wanted it to be a bluesy piece and … kind of tell the story of the east side, the poor side of town and how we all grew up,” Harris said. “It was an incredibly strong community there on the east side.”

He had the lyrics and music for the song in mind and put it all down on paper on a flight from Detroit to Florida last February to visit his brother Dave.

Harris plays with Lewis’ band, Bille Lewis and the Soulbacks, who play regularly in the Lenawee County area. They’ve known each other since the 1970s, and now Harris is one of the Soulbacks.

“When I came back to Lenawee County, I got with Bille, and he said, ‘Rich, you ought to play with us again,’” Harris said. “I’ve been back with them for over three years.”

Lewis also sings “Merry Christmas Baby” on “Christmas in My Heart.”

The albums have been a labor of love.

“Everybody worked just wonderfully together,” Harris said. “Sometimes the whole is greater the sum of its parts because there’s a certain synergy there between musicians. I want to congratulate every member of the band on their great musicianship and their good humor throughout because everyone worked together. Nobody had any big egos. We worked together, we had fun together, and I’m very proud of the end result.”

— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Richard Harris' Christmas albums honor family and hometown of Adrian