Gavin Harrison

Gavin Harrison as a very young boy began playing the trumpet, wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps, but with poor results, so he was enraptured by the potential of the drums and by the time he was 6 years old he already had clear ideas: he wanted to become a professional drummer.

His first drum kit was a Trixon, he then switched to a professional Ajax, both British brands.
Until the age of 15, his listening is purely jazz. In 1983 he joined the group Renaissance after passing an audition in which he had to play a 20-minute piece.

Gavin Harrison in 1986 auditioned for Iggy Pop; although he disliked and had no experience in the genre, he passed the test and played on the 1986 tour of the Blah Blah Blah album.

In 1987 he was part of Dizrhythmia (the name comes from the scientific term for jetlag), along with Jakko Jakszyk, Danny Thompson, and Pandit Dinesh, a mixture of jazz and funk in a context associated with progressive rock.

His fortunes began in Italy in 1989, when Alice’s producer walked into a store and bought the Dizrhythmia album and invited the band to play for the singer’s tour. From here on he began to collaborate with various Italian musicians.

He is immediately on tour, Alice’s, called The Sun in the Rain, together with Jakszyk. He worked with Eugenio Finardi on the album La forza dell’amore and the following year on the album Millennium. With Pierangelo Bertoli he collaborated on 1992’s Italia d’oro and 1995’s Una voce tra due fuochi.

With Alice in 1992 he collaborated on the album Mezzogiorno sulle Alpi and with Fiorella Mannoia in I treni a vapore. Here he meets guitarist Paolo Gianolio, who introduces him to singer-songwriter Claudio Baglioni, and participates in the Oltre tour (along with bassist Tony Levin); it is the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration.

Meanwhile, two live albums Assieme and Ancorassieme, where Harrison plays drums and percussion, are released. Also in the same year, album 1 of the group Gen Rosso was released, where he plays drums in some of the songs.