You might recall New Orleans jazz musician Donald Harrison from his prominent role in Spike Lee's Hurricane Katrina documentary When the Levees Broke, or from his role in David Simon's HBO series Treme. But now one area resident has even more of a connection with Harrison, as they are in possession of his custom-made saxophone after the musician left it in a San Francisco taxi cab.
So reports KTVU, saying that Harrison "was performing at the Boom Boom Room in San Francisco Saturday night when he left his instrument in a taxi."
Harrison, who according to his website " created 'Nouveau Swing,' a style off jazz that merges it with modern dance music like R&B, Hip-Hop, Soul and Rock," says that the instrument "was one of the only things he saved when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans," KTVU reports.
Harrison was "an actual evacuee/survivor of Hurricane Katrina," his website says. Speaking with KTVU, he says that in the disaster, "The only thing I took with me was my computer and my saxophone."
Posting to Facebook, Harrison wrote on Saturday that "I just left my saxophone in a flywheel taxi in San Francisco. I was riding with an African driver and payed with cash so they can't track him down."
"I know it is a shot in the dark but if anyone has any ideas let me know. I usually ride with uber but my phone was dead so I could not get a uber," he wrote.
In another post, Harrison says "The brand of my sax that is missing in San francisco is International Woodwind and is made in Los Angeles by a manufacturer named Laksar. There are not many of them around so if you see an International Woodwind alto sax it is probably mine."
"The case has a couple of New Orleans Saints season ticket holders stickers and a Playboy Jazz Festival sticker on it with a TUMI leather sholder strap. It has a vandoren 45 alto sax mouthpiece and a vandoren neck strap that takes the pressure off the spine inside."
KTVU reports that the sax "was made especially for him by International Woodwind Company. He says it is the horn he can express himself the best on." Nicknamed "Lady M." by Harrison, the gold alto horn has its model number, IW 601 ADL engraved on its body. It was inside a case "in the shape of a sax," KTVU says.
Harrison says that he expects to be back in the Bay Area on August 30, when he has a performance scheduled at Yoshi's in Oakland.
"I hope a miracle occurs," Harrison says, "and I will be united with my saxophone in time to play Yoshi's."
If you have any information on the missing instrument, you can contact Harrison via his Facebook page or by a slew of other methods via his contact page.