Jara Harris
"Vocals, Bass, Drums, Guitar & Keys"
---------------------------------------------------------
Mission Viejo-native Jara Harris is the founder, leader and heartbeat of Slapbak. A child prodigy, he started out bashin' drums at the tender age of four in the family's J Harris Band (started by his parents James and Joyce Harris for their children Jeff, James II, Jara, Julie and Janine). From there, young Jara systematically began learning keyboards, guitar and his primary instrument, BASS, inspired by the greats (*Larry Graham, Bootsy Collins and Louis Johnson*). This enabled him to also write and record the plethora of song ideas that filled his head. A fierce rep earned Jara and his big brother Jeff membership into Jackson family member Randy Jackson's short-lived group Randy & The Gypsys in 1989. When that group dissolved, Jara assembled the group Jara Sound in 1990 to perform music he'd recorded solo. This early unit morphed into what became the original Slapbak. Slapbak's first major break came as a result of playing at Santa Monica's the Music Machine club as the final act of a Black Rock Coalition concert. A&R people from Reprise/Warner snapped them up in 1992 for their debut album, Fast Food Funkateers, which was graced by supportive soul legends George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Fred Wesley and Bride of Funskenstein Dawn Silva. Following the lead-off single "24 Below," the band's breakthrough single/video "True Confessions" was co-produced by Larry Blackmon, leader of the `70s funk band Cameo. Via relentless gigging across the country, Slapbak earned a fierce reputation for take-no-prisoners concert throw downs! For over 15 years and six albums (three unreleased), producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, singer, bandleader, talent scout and all-around babysitter Jara Harris has kept the torch lit not only for Slapbak...but for the entity of Funk itself. And the muthathumper is just gettin' warmed up!