Tom Harrell

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Tom Harrell (2011)

Tom Harrell (born June 16, 1946 in Urbana , Illinois ) is an American jazz trumpeter and composer . In addition to the trumpet , he also plays the flugelhorn .

Live and act

Tom Harrell was born in Urbana, Illinois and began learning the trumpet when he was eight. He soon moved to San Francisco with his parents . There he performed with local bands at the age of 13. In 1969 he graduated from Stanford University and became a member of Stan Kenton's orchestra, toured with the orchestra and took part in recordings. After he left Kenton's band, he played with the Woody Herman Big Band (1970-1971), Azteca (1972), the Horace Silver Quintet (1973-1974), the Sam Jones Big Band, the Lee Konitz Nonet (1979-1981 ), George Russell , the Mel Lewis Orchestra (1981) and Charlie Hadens Liberation Music Orchestra . He also recorded with Bill Evans , Dizzy Gillespie , Bob Brookmeyer , Lionel Hampton and others. From 1983 to 1989 he was a key member of the Phil Woods Quintet, touring the world and making numerous recordings. It was also Phil Woods who encouraged Harrell in his work as a composer:

““ Although I had a solo career playing with Phil Woods, it was he who encouraged me to write my own pieces. ““

- Tom Harrell

He has had his own band since 1989, mostly in a quintet formation, occasionally also in a big band line-up. There is hardly an important jazz club or jazz festival where it has not performed. He has recorded for numerous jazz labels, including Pinnacle, Blackhawk, Criss Cross, SteepleChase , Contemporary Records , Chesky and RCA . For his recordings he was able to win sidemen musicians such as Kenny Garrett , Kenny Barron , John Scofield , Joe Lovano , Danilo Pérez , Leon Parker , Billy Hart , Charlie Haden, Reggie Johnson or Art Farmer . Harrell recorded the two releases Light On from 2007 and Prana Dance from 2009 in a quintet line-up together with Wayne Escoffery (tenor saxophone), Danny Grissett (Fender Rhodes and piano), Ugonna Okegwo (bass) and Johnathan Blake (drums).

Tom Harrell has been struggling with a severe handicap offstage as he suffers from schizophrenia . His wife, Angela Harrell, who also works as a co-producer on Moving Picture , made it possible for him to overcome the impairments and continue his music career.

In September 2016 the album Something Gold, Something Blue was released , all except for the classic Body and Soul own compositions, on which he worked closely with Ambrose Akinmusire . He presented the album Moving Picture , which was again released on HighNote Records in 2017 in a quartet line-up (with Adam Cruz dr, Danny Grissett p, Ugonna Okegwo b) in a small European tour in 2018, including in Berlin and Münster; the performance in Berlin's Quasimodo was recorded and broadcast on May 28, 2018 in the In Concert series by Deutschlandfunk Kultur .

Tom Harrell (2017)

Discography (selection)

Lexical entry

Web links

Commons : Tom Harrell  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Rolf Thomas: Tom Harrell. The best.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) In: Jazz thing / 78@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.jazzthing.de
  2. ↑ Interview with Chris Wong (2004)
  3. ↑ Making Music That Catches the Wind (2008)
  4. ↑ Harrell Blows Past His Troubles Trumpeter Overcomes Mental Illness To Achieve Jazz Stardom (1996) at Philly.com
  5. ↑ Something Gold, Something Blue Allmusic, accessed May 31, 2018
  6. ↑ The record was made in September 2016 in That Sound Music Studio in Pompignan , southern France . See Tom Harrell - Moving Picture , Discogs, accessed May 31, 2018
  7. ↑ Tom Harrell Quartet Sehnsuchtsvolle Klangreisen , DLF Kultur, May 28, 2018, accessed May 31, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Harrell, Tom
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz trumpeter and composer
DATE OF BIRTH June 16, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Urbana , Illinois