Craig Harris emerged in the 1970s as an irreverent trombonist, capable of indulging in catchy folk melodies as well as harsh dissonance on Black Bone (january 1983), Aboriginal Affairs (1983), on which he debuted his didjeridu playing, and Tributes (1984). A living summary of the history of jazz trombone playing, his madcap art probably peaked with the 17-minute Shelter Suite, off Shelter (december 1986). Blackout in the Square Root of Soul (november 1987) added the synthesizer to his odd palette of sounds.

Later recordings includes: 4 Play (august 1990), with keyboards, guitars and African percussions, and F-Stops (june 1993).

After a hiatus of ten years, Harris assembled a David Murray-esque band with trumpet (Hugh Ragin), cornet (Graham Haynes), clarinet (Don Byron), alto saxophone (Oliver Lake), baritone saxophone (Hamiet Bluiett), bass (Cecil McBee), drums (Billy Hart) and percussion (Kahil El'Zabar), and crafted the double-disc concept album Souls Within The Veil (july 2003).