Billy Harper is an American jazz saxophonist. He performed with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Louis Armstrong, Art Blakey's Messengers, Elvin Jones, Gil Evans, and Max Roach. He started recording under his own name in the 1970s, releasing his debut album Capra Black in 1973, regarded as one of the seminal recordings of jazz's black consciousness movement, and Black Saint in 1975.