Harris moved away from jazz standards with 2006's Cross That River, a concept album about the African-American experience in the American West of the 1860s. In 2007, Harris released Long Live the King, a live recording from the Kennedy Center in tribute to Nat King Cole. Two years later he issued a 2009 holiday-season homage to Cole, Dedicated to You: Allan Harris Sings a Nat King Cole Christmas. Also arriving that year was Cry of the Thunderbird, a follow-up to Cross That River. In 2011, Harris released the R&B-infused Open Up Your Mind, while 2014's Convergence, a tribute to Tony Bennett and Bill Evans, was recorded with pianist Takana Miyamoto. One year later, Harris took home the Down Beat Critic's Poll Award for Rising Star Jazz Vocalist. Also in 2015, he released the studio album Black Bar Jukebox, which featured a mix of standards, originals, and modern pop covers. Arriving in 2016, the follow-up Nobody's Gonna Love You Better: Black Bar Jukebox Redux spanned wide stylistic territory from vocal jazz, R&B, blues, and Brazilian to covers of rock classics by Jimi Hendrix and Steely Dan, while also including a retooled track from Cross That River among its four Harris originals. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi