Jesse Harris Cosmo
As it has for so many musicians, an invitation from John Zorn altered the trajectory and possibility of Jesse Harris’s music. By 2010, Harris had already made a handful of sophisticated pop albums, applying the same smarts he delivered in songs he had penned for the likes of Norah Jones, Solomon Burke, and Lizz Wright to his own generous sound. But Zorn asked if he might make an all-instrumental affair for Tzadik’s Key Series, patching together a few new songs with wordless re-imaginings of cuts from his own catalogue. The result, Cosmo, was a beautiful blend of Brill Building flair and Tropicália finesse, folk intimacy and soul warmth, played with expert friends like Kenny Wollesen and CJ Camerieri. It also became a jumping-off point for Cosmo, a band that has taken that name and that aim and run with both.
On 2022’s But When?, Harris and company shifted from blurred fanfares for the rising sun to muscular math rock centered on melody, from graceful lullabies studded with perfect horn hooks to epic tunes fit for road-trip adventures. Harris slimmed the lineup for the subsequent Spring Song, dropping the horns for sessions with multi-instrumental extraordinaire Shahzad Ismaily and enhancing the romantic glow at the center of the songs. Partnered with bassist James Buckley and drummer Jeremy Gustin, Wollesen—on percussion and synths—keeps the rhythm section in constant but subtle motion, while Harris and the great Will Graefe move in smartly interlocking patterns with their guitars. That’s the version of Cosmo that Harris brings to Big Ears 2026.
