Tom Harrell 's biography |  United States

Biography

Trumpeter Tom Harrell was born in Illinois, United States, in 1946. He majored in composition at Stanford University. Since the early ‘70s, he has worked with Woody Herman’s big band and the groups of Horace Silver, Arnie Lawrence and Chuck Israels, and played as a session musician for Lee Konitz, Sam Jones, Bill Evans and George Russell. From 1983 to ‘88, he was part of Phil Woods’s quartet. In 1989, he started leading his own bands and recording for RCA/BMG. Some these albums are Wise Children (with vocals by Cassandra Wilson and Dianne Reeves, among others); Paradise and The Art of Rhythm. His current quintet is made up of Wayne Escoffery (tenor sax), Danny Grissett (piano), Johnathan Blake (drums) and Ugonna Okegwo (double bass). With them, he recorded several albums for Highnote: The Time of the Sun (2011), Roman Nights (2010), Prana Dance (2009), Light On (2007) and his recent Number Five. He has been a resident artist at the Barga and Vicenza jazz festivals, where he performed duo, quintet and big band concerts over several days. He has also played as a soloist with the Concertgebouw orchestra. In 2011, he created a chamber ensemble (trumpet, flute, soprano and tenor sax, violin, cello, piano, guitar, bass and drums) and presented his arrangements of the works of Debussy and Ravel as well as his own original compositions at the Blue Note Jazz Festival in New York.