In Memoriam

Dani Harris (1988 – 2026)

Ralph Towner (1940 – 2026)

Richie Beirach (1947 – 2026)

January 2026 was one of the most depressing months that I can remember. In addition to the appallingly wet weather that brought misery to so many around the UK January also saw three jazz related deaths that saddened me greatly. Two saw the passing of great American musicians that I’ve been a long time fan of, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and composer Ralph Towner and pianist, composer and educator Richie Beirach. The third was closer to home and so much harder to take, that of Dani Harris, wife and manager of the brilliant gypsy jazz and blues rock guitarist Remi Harris.

DANI HARRIS (1988 - 2026)

For me Remi Harris represents a genuine local hero, born in the same county as myself and still based locally in neighbouring Worcestershire. I’ve been following his career for a long time and first reviewed him playing a local gig with his gypsy jazz trio back in 2010, even then noting his potential to make an impact on the national music scene.

I have monitored and championed his progress ever since, watching him improve and mature as a musician and performer while building a large and loyal national, and even international, following in the process. He made his name playing gypsy jazz but in recent years has also returned to his first musical love, the sound of blues rock and particularly the music of Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green. The introduction of electric guitars and blues rock material to Remi’s gypsy jazz live shows increased his following and his current projects are the essentially acoustic Hot Club Trio, ‘Man of the World’, a Peter Green themed ‘tribute’, and the Blues Rock Roadshow, which expands upon the Green project to add the music of Led Zeppelin, Free, Jimi Hendrix, Cream etc.

I’ve witnessed dozens of Remi Harris shows over the course of the last fifteen years or so, some as a reviewer,  even more as a very satisfied paying customer. I’ve never been disappointed, Remi is a musician who combines a formidable technique with an indefatigable work ethic. He tours incessantly,  never plays a bad show and consistently delivers the goods. It’s been the recipe for his richly deserved success and has earned him a huge and highly devoted following. He’s only recorded sporadically but it’s live work that is his bread and butter and the live environment is where he thrives. This is a man who just loves playing the guitar, and that love has communicated itself to his devoted audiences.

Behind Remi’s rise from the back rooms of local pubs to a BBC Proms performance at the Royal Albert Hall has been his wife Dani, who has also acted as his manager, tour manager and booking agent, playing an incalculable role in his success. With Dani handling the logistics and admin Remi was free to concentrate on playing and as far as the music was concerned this was a partnership made in heaven. With Dani at his side Remi’s star continued to rise and she deserves great credit for that. I have no evidence to prove it but I’ve always believed that Remi’s increased confidence as a stage performer arose from Dani’s guidance and encouragement. When I first saw him I 2010 he barely spoke to audiences, now he’s a far more confident stage presence who has actively worked at honing his stage craft.

Dani formed her own music management company, Yardbird Arts and with Remi began hosting regular live music events in one of the outbuildings at their Worcestershire home, The Hatch. Together they imaginatively transformed the building into an intimate performance space with a capacity of just 40, creatively decorated with music memorabilia to create a genuine ‘jazz club’ ambience.

I attended several events there both as a reviewer and as a customer and would always liaise directly with Dani, who was always courteous, friendly and efficient. At these delightfully intimate events she would always ensure that audience members were comfortable and well looked after. She was the perfect host and my wife and I got to know her, and of course Remi,  quite well. Not to mention Dani’s two goats in the paddock across the yard, who absolutely loved all the attention they received from visitors to the Yardbird Jazz Club.

We used to love our visits to The Hatch and have grown to regard Dani and Remi as friends, which makes her passing so hard to take. I appreciate that I should have written this article a couple of weeks ago when the news first broke, but have found it hard to steel myself to do so.

Sometimes Dani would contact me and ask me to cover a specific show, which I was always delighted to do. With the couple living locally there were also plenty of other opportunities to see Remi perform and as a confirmed fan of his playing I was more than happy to attend as a paying customer.

It was in the latter capacity that we attended an excellent performance of the Blues Rock Roadshow at The Marr’s Bar in Worcester in the summer of 2025.  It was then that we learned that Dani had been admitted to hospital for an operation to remove a brain tumour. This came as a complete shock as it became obvious that Dani was seriously ill. However as she was so young we assumed, perhaps naively, that she would eventually make a full recovery. Which is why, when Remi announced her passing it came as such a shock. We could hardly believe it, and felt so sorry for poor Remi.

Remi’s public announcements regarding Dani’s passing, made via his Facebook page, have been intelligent,  articulate, dignified and genuinely moving. He has bravely decided to keep to his busy live performance schedule, not cancelling a single gig despite his devastating loss. I guess immersing yourself in your work can act as a coping mechanism with Remi saying this about his bandmates, vocalist Dave Small, bassist Tom Moore and drummer Shane Dixon;  “being on the road with these guys has been like therapy for me, and I have needed it now more than ever before”.

And of course he’s also doing it for Dani, as another of his Facebook post explains;
“Dani’s vision, her dream and her legacy must continue and I feel motivated and determined to carry that forward. Through my memories her spirit lives on in me and she is present in everything that I do and every note that I play. So now my life is dedicated to continuing the vision she had and living by the example that she set. Yardbird Arts and all of our musical ventures will continue, full steam ahead, to keep her spirit and memory alive.”

Every date on the current “Man of the World” tour has been sold out and by all accounts the performances have been electrifying. Inevitably the shows have also been very emotional experiences, with Remi dedicating the band’s rendition of “Albatross” to Dani’s memory.

We’ll be at the Man of the World show at The Muse in Brecon on March 6th 2026, another performance that is already sold out. But before that we intend to attend Dani’s funeral on March 4th. Details as below;

“Dani’s funeral will be at 12:30pm on Wednesday 4th March at Wyre Forest Crematorium, Stourport-on-Severn. The wake will be at The Bell Inn at Pensax from 1:45pm. Please share this with anyone who might like to join us in celebrating Dani’s life. All are welcome. Wear something colourful. More details are here…
http://www.daniharris.muchloved.com

They say the good die young, and there goes your proof. Dani and Remi shared eighteen years together, but it should have been so much more. She genuinely was a lovely person. There is no justice in this world.

Rest In Peace Dani, it was a pleasure to have known you, and through Remi and his music your memory and legacy will live on.

RALPH TOWNER (1940 -2026)

The sorrow I felt at the passing of first Ralph Towner and then Richie Beirach was different, not so personal, a little more detached. Nevertheless after nearly fifty years of listening to somebody’s music it’s natural to feel a degree of sadness when they pass.

I first heard Ralph Towner’s music in the late 1970s when I first started getting into jazz and developed something of an obsession with the ECM label, which began with vibraphonist Gary Burton and guitarist Pat Metheny but expanded to take in bassist Eberhard Weber, saxophonist Jan Garbarek, pianist Keith Jarrett, bassist Arild Andersen and more, including, of course Ralph Towner.

My introduction to Towner’s music was his superb 1973 solo album “Diary”, which remains a personal favourite to this day. I can’t claim to have heard all of Towner’s output but other favourites include the two Solstice albums, made with Weber, Garbarek and drummer Jon Christensen and “Old Friends, New Friends” a 1979 recording featuring trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, cellist David Darling, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Michael Di Pasqua.

As a sideman I particularly enjoyed his contributions to Garbarek’s “Dis” (1976), Andersen’s “If You Look Far Enough” (1994), which also featured percussionist Nana Vasconcelos,  and to drummer Bill Bruford’s “If Summer Had It’s Ghosts”, a 1997 album that also featured Gomez. Towner also famously played on Weather Report’s 1972 release “I Sing The Body Electric”.

I was lucky enough to see Towner at the very first Cheltenham Jazz Festival in 1996, a solo guitar performance at the Everyman Theatre that brought back happy memories of the 1980 album “Solo Concert”, another favourite Towner recording. After the show I remember purchasing a copy of Towner’s then current album “Lost and Found”, a quartet recording featuring Denney Goodhew (reeds), Marc Johnson (bass) and Jon Christensen (drums). It’s a record I revisited after Towner’s passing and I was delighted to discover just how much I enjoyed hearing it again.

Towner was also part of the long running Oregon quartet and I was able to see this ensemble on a Contemporary Music Network tour at the now defunct Adrian Boult Hall in Birmingham. This was the ‘second edition’ of the band with Trilok Gurtu in the percussion chair, replacing Collin Walcott who was sadly killed in a road traffic accident when Oregon were touring in Germany in 1984. Walcott was only thirty nine, only slightly older than Dani Harris and I remember being greatly saddened by his tragic passing too.

In 2011 Towner appeared as part of a duo with the Sardinian trumpeter Paolo Fresu at The Edge in Much Wenlock. This sold out event was an intimate but brilliant performance and featured music from the duo’s ECM album “Chirascuro”.

After the show the musicians hung around to sign copies of the recording and to chat with fans. It was here that I met Towner for the only time and we had a long and interesting discussion. He was a very intelligent and affable man and more than happy to sign my cherished copy of “Diary”. It’s a long time ago now but I will always treasure that discussion, it was a privilege and a pleasure to meet one of my ‘ECM musical heroes’.

During the course of our chat Towner spoke warmly of the vision of ECM founder and chief producer Manfred Eicher and declared that it was  a real privilege for him to have pretty much his whole back catalogue- an entire artistic life- still available via the ECM label.

In addition to his skills as a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Towner was also a superb composer and many of his compositions, among them “Celeste” (named for his daughter) and “The Glide” have become contemporary jazz standards.

The player may be gone, but so much of his wonderful music lives on.

Rest in Peace, Ralph.

 

RICHIE BEIRACH (1947 – 2026)

Pianist, composer and educator Richie Beirach is another musician whose playing I first heard via ECM.

New York born Beirach was closely associated with saxophonist Dave Liebman and I first heard his playing on Liebman’s ECM albums “Lookout Farm” (1974) and “Drum Ode” (1975).

I also enjoyed Beirach’s playing on Liebman’s “Sweet Hands” album from 1976, released on A & M, and on bassist Frank Tusa’s “Father Time” (Enja, 1975). Beirach was also part of guitarist John Abercrombie’s group on the album “Arcade” (ECM 1975).

Beirach was part of Quest, another group led by Liebman. I recall seeing Beirach perform live for the only time when an edition of Quest featuring Liebman, Beirach, bassist Ron McClure and drummer Billy Hart appeared at Brecon Jazz Festival sometime in the late 1980s. I recall that it was a blisteringly intense performance with Liebman playing soprano sax like a man possessed.

I can’t pretend to have followed Beirach’s career particularly closely in the intervening years. He has maintained a successful academic career in addition to working as a professional musician and although he has continued to record I suspect that the majority of his albums have not been readily available in the UK and also that he hasn’t played live in this country very often.

However coming so soon after the news of Ralph Towner’s passing his death still came as a bit of a shock, although I later learned that he’d been ill for some time.

All this prompted me to dig out my old vinyl copy of “Eon”, Beirach’s 1975 trio album for ECM. Recorded with Tusa on bass and Jeff Williams, another Liebman associate, on drums it still sounds astonishingly fresh and contemporary and I really enjoyed hearing it again. Sometimes some good does come out of heartache.

I was even more detached from Richie than I was from Ralph or Dani but I’m still sorry to see him go.

My condolences to his old friend Jeff Williams, who I’ve got to know since Jeff relocated to the UK. When I first bought that copy of “Eon” back in the late 70s I never thought I’d get to be on first name terms with the drummer!

Jazz is a community. We all feel it when a member of that community passes, never mind how well or how remotely we knew them.

Condolences to the family and friends of Dani, Ralph and Richie.

 

 

 

 

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