Donald Harrison’s NOLA Jazz Programs First Recipient – Hailun Piano Partnerships

NEW
ORLEANS, October 5, 2011 – Basilios Strmec, CEO of Hailun USA, a piano
company based in Ningbo, China, announces the launching of an annual
nationwide program of Piano Partnerships with jazz musicians and
significant courses of jazz studies. The Piano Partnerships begin with
their presentation of Hailun’s HG 178 grand piano and HU 1 P upright
piano on November 15 to the renowned jazz saxophonist and composer
Donald Harrison for use in the two jazz programs that he runs in New
Orleans. In conjunction with the installation of the pianos, Harrison
will present a concert which will include some famous New Orleans piano
classics on November 16 at the Tipitina’s Foundation, where he is the
musical director of the internship program.

“This is a dream
come true, ” says Harrison. “I initiated free music programs at The
Tipitina’s Foundation and The Guardians Institute in 2007 to provide the
gifted young people in New Orleans opportunities and a place to develop
as musicians.

Hailun Pianos is providing an essential element
to ensure the highest level for music studies in New Orleans. These
pianos will play an important role in continuing the traditions that
made New Orleans the birthplace of American music. The impact of this is
going to be life-changing for so many people.”
Basilios Strmec
acknowledges, “Donald Harrison exemplifies the type of leadership as a
musician, and as a member of his community, that Hailun Pianos is
seeking for its partnerships, and that is why he was chosen to be the
first partner in our new program. It is obvious that there is an
exciting resurgence of musical culture in New Orleans, and that Donald
Harrison is in the vanguard of that resurgence. Hailun is honored to
participate in his jazz programs that are inspiring a new generation of
New Orleans musicians. ”

Born in New Orleans in 1960,
saxophonist Donald Harrison began playing with Art Blakey and the Jazz
Messengers in his early twenties. He had already completed what most
musicians would call a career when the influential band he co-led with
fellow New Orleans native trumpeter Terence Blanchard broke up in 1989.
But Harrison was only beginning. Choosing to work in a number of genres
at once, Harrison has released a series of albums that are touchstones
of contemporary New Orleans music, particularly the immensely important
1992 release “Indian Blues, “ in which he brought the Mardi Gras Indian
music learned from his father, Donald Harrison Sr., into a vibrant
contemporary jazz/R&B setting. Harrison continues to perform and
record in traditional jazz settings with both acoustic and electric
bands as well as what he calls Nouveau Swing, a roots amalgam merging
acoustic jazz, Mardi Gras Indian Music, hip-hop, second line and reggae.
Harrison also has been a potent influence on younger musicians,
mentoring personalities as different as rapper Notorious BIG and whiz
kid trumpeter Christian Scott. As the director of Tipitina’s Intern
Program, he often works with musicians from that program as his band
when performing. Other notable former interns of the Tipitina’s program
include Jonathan Batiste, Trombone Shorty, Khris Royal, Joe Dyson, Max
Moran and Conun Pappas.

Hailun Pianos has become the standard for
high quality piano manufacturing across the Far East, and a global
influence in the world of pianos. Owner Hailun Chen, with more than 20
years of successful manufacturing experience, has worked closely with
Peter Veletzky, a fourth generation piano builder from Vienna, to
develop technology to build pianos that are equal in quality to the best
European-made pianos. Hailun’s 430, 000 square foot factory now employs
over 800 workers and 37 seasoned piano engineers. This uncompromising
insistence to achieve maximum quality and product excellence has made
Hailun the piano of choice for thousands all over the world.

Since
the partnership with Mr. Veletzky, Hailun has retained the talents of
well-known American piano designer and engineer George F. Emerson,
Viennese piano voicing and sound specialist Zlatkovic Sibin, Japanese
production specialist Ema Shigeru and French scale designer and piano
builder Stephen Paulello. These collaborations ensure long-term quality,
innovation, and artistic production at Hailun Pianos. With over 360
European piano dealers, over 80 U.S. Authorized Hailun Merchants, over
40 merchants in Japan and a growing network in other parts of the world,
Hailun Pianos is the epitome of an innovative, progressive company that
is expanding in response to the world market.

The Hailun Piano
Company is also placing an HU 1 P upright in The Blue Monk, a jazz club
in Portland, Oregon. Hailun is dedicated to helping the future musicians
of the world and will begin the process soon to find recipients in the
field of music education to participate in the Piano Partnership in
2012.

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www.donaldharrison.com www.hailun-pianos.com