{"id":2441694,"date":"2019-03-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-14T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=301230"},"modified":"2019-03-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T06:00:00","slug":"after-a-career-on-stage-with-madonna-niki-haris-steps-into-her-own-and-headlines-jas-cafe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/after-a-career-on-stage-with-madonna-niki-haris-steps-into-her-own-and-headlines-jas-cafe\/","title":{"rendered":"After a career on-stage with Madonna, Niki Haris steps into her own and headlines JAS Cafe"},"content":{"rendered":"
Singer Niki Harris will headline the JAS Cafe on Friday, March 15 and Saturday, March 16.<\/strong>
Courtesy photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Singer Niki Haris honed her craft at the top of the pop music world, performing at Madonna\u2019s side through her chameleon-like transformations from the mid-1980s through the start of the new millennium.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned discipline about creating your own vision and sticking to it,\u201d Haris told The Aspen Times during a 2017 swing through town to play the JAS Caf\u00e9, where she returns for four shows on March 15 and 16. \u201cAnd making sure that you\u2019re living your own narrative, not judging yourself through somebody else\u2019s eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris was onstage singing and dancing on Madonna\u2019s \u201cWho\u2019s That Girl\u201d tour and the legendary \u201cBlonde Ambition\u201d run, she was in the film \u201cTruth or Dare\u201d and in the iconic \u201cVogue\u201d music video, up through the \u201cRay of Light\u201d era.<\/p>\n

She left to focus on motherhood and on a solo career that brings Haris back to town for her Aspen shows with the Mitch Forman Quartet.<\/p>\n

The woman she knows and performed with for so long, Haris said, is not the shrewd and trend-chasing Madonna in the popular imagination.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople talk about how calculating she is, but I saw so many times when she would not do that and go with her gut,\u201d Haris said. \u201cI learned so much from her in the beginning. Good stuff that now I go, \u2018Oh, this is what she meant by that!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

With Madonna, Haris played in stadiums and to some of the largest concert crowds on Earth. But she relishes the intimacy of playing small jazz clubs like the JAS Cafe, which afford a personal connection with an audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think more people who do stadiums should make themselves go and do small venues in the intimate cafe and cabaret style,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you play to over 100,000 people, there\u2019s something lost in feeling that you can physically touch people. In a more intimate situation, you\u2019re more vulnerable, which the audience picks up on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The daughter of legendary jazz pianist Gene Harris, the singer said an intimate jazz club feels like a childhood home to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt reminds me of when I was growing up,\u201d she said. \u201cIt feels a lot more like family.\u201d<\/p>\n

A regular at Vail Jazz events over the last decade, playing traditional jazz shows and hosting a popular gospel concert, she\u2019s earned a loyal fan base in the mountains.<\/p>\n

In September, she released the solo album \u201cLift Thine Eyes,\u201d a collection of soulful, gospel songs (and a cover of Cyndi Lauper\u2019s \u201cTime After Time.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Since 2016, Haris has been chipping away on a collaboration with fellow Madonna back-up singer and longtime friend Donna De Lory, which included the 2017 EP \u201cTwo Friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve spent so much of our lives together that we\u2019ve said, \u2018Let\u2019s do this,\u2019\u201d Haris explained. \u201cWe\u2019re just having a good time and taking advantage of the fact that we have an incredible story to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n

atravers@aspentimes.com<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Singer Niki Harris will headline the JAS Cafe on Friday, March 15 and Saturday, March 16.Courtesy photo Singer Niki Haris honed her craft at the top of the pop music world, performing at Madonna\u2019s side through her chameleon-like transformations from the mid-1980s through the start of the new millennium. \u201cI learned discipline about creating your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2441694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 08:42:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2441694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441694\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2441694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2441694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2441694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}