Winard Harper

By the time the Harper Brothers burst onto the jazz scene in 1988, older brother Winard Harper was a seasoned jazz veteran at the age of 27. He had already spent the better part of the decade performing with some of the greatest names in jazz. At 20, he was playing the drums first with Dexter Gordon, and then with Johnny Griffin. Harper then honed his chops for the next four years under the tutelage of the late, great Betty Carter. Known for her exacting expectations from her musicians, Carter helped fine-tune the talents of the young drummer from Baltimore. It was in the le...