Harrel, Tom
Harrel, Tom
Harrel, Tom, jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist; b. Urbana, I11., June 16, 1946. His family moved to L.A. when he was six years old. He began studying trumpet at age eight, and was working with local bands by age 13. He attended Stanford, where he earned a degree in composition in 1969. Upon graduation, he was hired by Stan Kenton, and toured with him through the end of 1969. He then worked with Woody Herman in 1970 and 1971, and spent four years with Horace Silver. He also performed and recorded with Chuck Israel’s National Jazz Ensemble (1976), and played with Arnie Lawrence, Cecil Payne, Bill Evans and Lee Konitz’s nonet. Harrell worked with George Russell in 1982, then joined Phil Woods in 1983, with whom he worked through 1989. He has often worked and recorded with Joe Lovano. During the 1990s, he has primarily led his own groups, although he has played as a member of Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orch. (beginning in 1988) as well as in the N.Y. Jazz Giants (1992). He was voted Trumpeter of the Year in Down Beat’s Readers and Critics Polls for 1996. He is one of the top soloists despite a serious schizophrenic condition which requires constant treatment.
Discography
Aurora/Total (1976); Play of Light (1982); Moon Alley (1985); Open Air (1986); Visions (1987); Stories (1988); Sail Away (1989); Form (1990); Passages (1991); Upswing (1993); Labyrinth (1996); Art of Rhythm (1997); Time’s Mirror (1999).
—Lewis Porter