ABOUT GENE HARRIS
Jazz artist who specialized in soul jazz. His recording of Ode to Billie Joe became a jazz classic.
He was a member of The Three Sounds trio from 1956 until 1970, playing with drummer Bill Dowdy and bassist Andy Simpkins .
He helped debut Boise's annual Gene Harris Jazz Festival in 1998.
His daughter was prepared to donate a kidney to him, but he unfortunately died from kidney failure a month before the surgery could take place.
He retired in the late 1970s to Idaho, but was talked out of retirement by bassist Ray Brown .
