D.P. Express Bassist Jean-Robert Hariss, AKA Porky

Updated December 31, 2012 7:02 PM

Jean-Robert Hariss of Mini-Jazz group, D.P. Express, lost his life to a long-standing illness in 2008. He began his music career with the group in the latter part of the 60s, known back then as Les Difficiles de Pétion-Ville, part of the exploding Mini-Jazz movement. The movement began in neighborhoods surrounding Port-au-Prince in the mid-sixties.

Known affectionately as Porky to his family, friends, and other musicians, Jean-Robert Hariss earned critical acclaim as an outstanding electric bassist. As a leader at the forefront of Mini-Jazz, he helped to revolutionize the Kompa genre, Haiti's pop-dance music. A talented arranger and song-lyricist, he co-produced the 1980 major-hit single "David".

Many band rivalries sprang up during the Mini-Jazz movement. As a precaution, Jean-Robert Hariss, AKA Porky took steps to ensure the band's high-profile popularity would continue, in response to a rival band's name change. The rival band, Les Gypsies, re-named themselves the astrologic-inspired Scorpio Universel. Jean re-branded Les Difficiles des Pétion-Ville as the modern, hip-sounding D.P. Express.

In spite of many changes to the band's line-up, he remained a core member of D.P. Express, until it broke up in the first half of the 90s. Although he rarely strayed outside his commitments to D.P. Express, he collaborated on projects with major music artists Ti Manno, Larose, Ansyto Mercier, Ed Wooley, Claude Marcelin, Dieudonne, and others.

Always frail in health, Porky developed a series of illnesses. He contracted diabetes, earlier in his career, and later heart disease, leading to a heart attack some years before his death in 2008.

D.P. Express Music Video

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