Famed Saxophonist Harris Dies

Eddie Harris, a tenor saxophonist whose compositions brought him early popular success, died on Tuesday at the University of Southern California Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 62 and lived in Los Angeles.

The cause was congestive heart failure, said Lolita Marie Harris, his daughter.

Harris never stuck with one style for long. His first recording, the title song from the film “Exodus,” was released in 1961 and sold more than 2 million copies. From then on, Harris, a product of DuSable High School in Chicago, a hotbed for jazz, was an inveterate experimenter.

Though his training ground was harmonically adventurous bebop, he tried to assimilate electronic music through his use of the Varitone, an attachment that amplified and distorted a saxophone.