The Billy Harper Interview

I went to The Vanguard one night and met John Coltrane. Before they took a break he was playing and all of a sudden he was chanting and beating his chest. I thought he had gone crazy, I had never seen anything like that. When I met him, he was so personable, just like a regular guy. I had been training myself to deal with what I thought might happen in New York (confrontation/challenges) and I thought I might have to do that with him. He was nothing like that. The biggest challenge in being a leader of a band, is keeping the integrity of the music while other people are trying to get the band to cater to the audience, or play something that has nothing to do with the truth. Usually it was coming from promoters, who were catering to the listeners. I tell them, ‘You hired me to play now, so I’m going to play now.’” Integrity means everything about truth and creativity. It has to do with being true to the creator. I was given a gift and I have to be true to that. I felt if I didn’t be true, then it would be taken away. Whether people like what I play, or not, or whether it’s popular or not, I have to play the truth.