Dante Lamont
Harmon is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and writer. He was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on
April 23, 1974. As an extremely dynamic
and innovative musician, he is well versed on drums, piano, organ, guitar, bass
guitar, and the lap and pedal steel guitars.
Harmon
received his first taste of musical performance at the tender age of seven years
old playing the drums. Being so skillful
at this age, he began accompanying musicians at “The House of God Church”. His late grandmother, Julia Shaw always
recognized his musical aptitude, which later encouraged her to purchase his
first steel guitar. His grandmother’s support inspired Dante at fourteen to
embark on mastering the Double Necked black Gibson steel guitar. Consequently, it did not take much time
before Harmon sought to expand his understanding of music theory. Soon thereafter, he began learning an
additional instrument, the piano while continuing to develop his skills and
passion for the steel guitar.
Although
a multi-instrumentalist, the music that Harmon most frequently plays is the
steel guitar which has come to be known as “Sacred Steel”. This is a genre of
music that is compared to both Blues and Jazz, but it originated from the Pentecostal
church, particularly the House of God Churches.
Bob Townsend of the Atlanta Journal Constitution expressed in his
article of Harmon and his performance of the Sacred Steel stating, “Harmon
works his steel into a frenzy of fast-picking arpeggios punctuated by wild
wails [. . .] but always the soul-deep strings of gospel come through.” After witnessing Harmon’s gifted hands, he
was notated as “the minister of sacred steel” by Bo Emerson of the Atlanta
Journal Constitution.
Through
the years, this Virtuoso has served as a pianist and organist for Jasper
Williams Jr., embraced the stage as a steel guitarist, pianist and drummer for
artists such as Robert Randolph, The Lee Boys, Calvin Cooke, Aubrey Ghent,
Oteil Burbridge and the Peacemakers, Dottie Peoples, Bishop Paul Morton, Bishop
Rudolph McKissick Jr., Nikki Ross, Shea Simpson, and William Murphy. He performed in 1999 for Governor Roy Barnes
at the Governor's Mansion in Atlanta, Georgia and has been featured as an
Arhoolie Recording Artist on “Train Don't Leave Me” (Live, 2000) and “Sacred
Steel Convention” (Live, 2002). He has received notable reviews by USA Today,
The New York Times, Big City Blues, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, and The
Gwinnett Daily Post. He performs locally
at The Atlanta Blues Festival, Dogwood Festival, Variety Playhouse, and Smith's
Olde Bar, in Atlanta, Georgia, where he currently resides.
The
‘maestro’, a name penned by close peers and relatives of Dante, takes his
influence from various artists in the gospel and secular arenas. Some of the legends of “Sacred Steel” such as
Charles ‘Chuck’ Campbell, Calvin Cooke, Glenn Lee, Henry Nelson, Maurice ‘Ted’
Beard, as well as Anthony Harmon, Darick Campbell, Ronnie Mozee, Lorenzo
Harrison have a tremendous role in Dante’s life as mentors. Other artists that
have strongly influenced Dante musically would include Prince, Kevin Bond, John
P. Kee, James Poysner, Israel Houghton, Melvin Crispell, Miche Waller, and Gerald
Heyward. When asked what he hopes to accomplish through his music, Harmon
responds, “To effectively change, motivate, and heal people throughout our
community and around the world through music.”
Currently,
Mr. Harmon is set to release his highly anticipated first single which is
entitled, “You Are Holy”, in December of 2011. With
this, Dante states that, “his personal mission is to promote love and joy
through the gift of music and divine teachings. I want my music, my instrument,
to be a healer with every note I hit.” Dante quotes, “The best anything you can
be is becoming the best you.”