He studied piano from age 6 and was also an accordionist and a self-taught guitarist; his knowledge of this instrument enabled him in later years to compose pieces specifically for guitar. He came to New York in 1938 at which time he started playing piano in big bands across the U.S.

Saxist-leader Joe Marsala signs British guitarist Albert Harris for his enlarged band at New York's Fiesta Danceteria 1940

Albert Harris  worked most of his life in Hollywood as an orchestrator, arranger and composer for several of the big Film Studios and for such pop icons as Barbra Streisand, Roberta Flack and Cher. He came to New York in 1938. He earned a Doctor of Music degree from New York College of Music and moved to Los Angeles in 1942. Albert Harris studied composition with Mary Carr Moore and Eugen Zador in Los Angeles, and conducting with Richard Lert. He is a recipient of several awards for choral pieces, songs, and an octet for French Horn from the Los Angeles Horn Club.  Albert Harris has lectured for UCLA and the Santa Barbara Academy of the West. He was Assistant Musical Director for NBC from 1946-49. He has arranged and conducted many dramatic scores for television and motion pictures. Albert Harris is a member of Composers and Lyricists Guild of America, and the Board of Directors of the American Society of Music Arrangers. He won the National Composer's Award and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for his Concerto de California scored for Guitar and String Quartet. Among those nominating Harris was Aaron Copeland with whom Harris shares a harmonic language that, in the words of Ned Rorem, "sounds like the great outdoors".