artist info

Praised by Newsweek for his pure melodic genius, Tom Harrell is widely recognized as one of the most creative and dynamic jazz instrumentalists and composers of our time. While Harrell is a master of the jazz idiom, he constantly seeks new challenges and influences. Even with a discography of over 260 recordings and a career that spans more than four decades, Harrell has managed to stay fresh and current as he continues to actively record and tour around the world. He is a frequent winner in Down Beat and Jazz Times magazines' Critics and Readers Polls and a Grammy nominee. His warm, burnished sound on the trumpet and the flugelhorn, and the unparalleled harmonic and rhythmic sophistication in his playing and writing, have earned Harrell his place as a jazz icon to aspiring musicians and devoted fans alike. His music is at once intelligent, soulful, fresh and accessible.

In the last two years, Harrell has begun to develop new projects- In June of 2011, he premiered his own arrangements of works by Debussy and Ravel with the nine-piece Tom Harrell Chamber Ensemble. Since then the ensemble was featured on PBS’ Soundtracks and toured in the US. The TRIP quartet is a piano-less group that was formed last year after Harrell was commissioned to write new music by Dave Douglas for the Festival of New Trumpet Music. COLORS OF A DREAM, Harrell’s latest creation, released this Fall and touring currently, takes the piano-less ensemble concept one step further with a sextet featuring alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw, and quintet members Wayne Escoffery, Ugonna Okegwo and Jonathan Blake.