New Dinosaurs
The New Dinosaurs was a power trio co-led by trumpeter Don Harris, bassist Dave Anderson, and drummer/percussionist Tyger MacNeal. Active from 2011-2019, they were long-standing friends as busy CT musicians when they got together at Dave's suggestion to play at an open mic for fun. The reaction they got from the crowd, as well as the ease of creating music completely off-the-cuff together with nothing planned beforehand, motivated them to continue with the line-up and pursue recording at Dave's Flying Squirrel studio as well as live performances, including Douglas and David Bibbey's Hi5NET TV variety show "First Thursday", where they made several appearances.
Sadly, we lost Don to cancer in 2023, but the beautiful, exploratory sound he created as part of this free-wheeling improvisational trio lives on in the recordings and videos the group created to "capture a firefly in a jar".
Video:
From our first appearance on Hi5TV.net's concert series (as "Trillium") – May 3 2012:
Bios
Don Harris
Upon receiving his Bachelor of Music degree from the prestigious Berklee College of Music, Don Harris immediately left to go on the road with James Taylor. That was followed with nine years as a studio and touring musician in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where he recorded literally hundreds of records for such visionary artists as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Djavan, Roberto Carlos, and Elis Regina. After a year in Rome, Italy he returned to New York where he landed the job as lead trumpet player and featured soloist with legendary soul band Tower of Power. That experience led him to the position of Musical Director for The Supremes featuring Mary Wilson and for the next six years he traveled the world with Miss Wilson, named an Ambassador of Rhythm and Blues for the U.S. Department of State. Since then Don has recorded and won a Grammy with Johnny Winter, and recorded, arranged and was nominated for a Latin Grammy with Bernie Williams. Along with being a staff arranger for American Idol Seasons 10 and 11, he has been nominated for multiple Grammy’s with Spyro Gyra, recorded for Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Cindy Lauper, and Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes. Don has performed live at Madison Square Garden with Bruce Springsteen, the Beacon Theater with The Allman Brothers Band, the Nokia Theater with Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Jimmy Fallon Show with Keith Urban and Sheryl Crow, he co-wrote, arranged and performed the theme song for “The View” and has toured the world yet again with Nile Rodgers and Chic.
Tyger MacNeal
Tyger has both toured internationally and been a stalwart presence on the Connecticut music scene for many years. His first big touring gig was with the reformed Average White Band in the nineties. After several successful years with that group he hit the road with guitar legend and Latin Grammy winner José Feliciano and traveled across South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia with him for nearly twenty five years. Tyger splits his time now between being a first call session player on the CT and NY scenes, contributing his performing, writing, and producing talents to original projects including The New Dinosaurs, and private teaching.
Dave Anderson
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