Tom Harrell and Friends
Special live for friends
B Flat January 21
Tom Harrell – flugelhorn
Tetsuya Tatsumi – flugelhorn
Junko Moriya – piano
Masuhara Iwao – bass
Ko Kanza – drums
A beautiful evening of Tom Harrell's original, individual style of jazz, B Flat was standing room only for this special performance of a unique musician. From the moment he walked out, the crowd was fully captivated by Harrell. He walked out from a door behind the stage, set down his second flugelhorn and without even a nod at the house, stood silently in front of his mike. Then, he launched into the first, flight-filled notes and the local quartet led by friend and fellow trumpeter Tatsumi leapt right in.
The songs came with relaxed, easy steadiness. Working with a couple of Harrell's originals and well-picked standards, the quintet really kept everything nimble, quick, but not over-quick, and always in the pocket. The flowing solos showed workmanship at first, but understated brilliance afterwards. Harrell's consistently creative, original solos felt as if they were full compositions. That way of slipping in calm elegance with a totally relaxed approach is nearly a lost art in jazz anymore. Even when romping through "Night in Tunisia" or crunching the angles of "Rhythm-a-Ning," everyone followed Harrell's lead and played right to the point, with long circling solo lines and delicate, sophisticated support.
Tatsumi and Moriya gave solo after solo in answer to Harrell's careful constructions. Iwao and Kanza, too, kept their ears open, listening for the cues that would take the music in each fresh direction. Harrell played directly, calmly and without confusion.
His solos worked deep areas, but without needing to show the inner divisions or dwell on musical conflicts. He kept going down into the depths to emerge with full statements again and again and again. His way of doing that is very infectious and Tatsumi and Moriya's solos found their own unhurried wholeness. Tatsumi's lines, slightly higher in tone than Harrell, formed a lovely counterpoint. Mid-set, Moriya and Harrell's duet on "Body and Soul" brought the house to a stunned halt, shivering with delight.
It is hard to listen to Harrell without calling to mind that he has schizophrenia. For many people, this condition means virtual inability to engage in communication, yet Harrell, despite being out of the jazz world for years at a time, has kept performing and releasing one elegant, vital CD after the next since the 90s. On listening, it is hard not to wonder if his musical logic differs somehow. Does he make connections that others might not? These idle musings, though, simply get swept away in the compelling power of his playing. Every great player has their own unique sources of creative energy, whatever they may be. For Harrell, inspired solos, careful constructions and a strong melodic impulse are the result.
Even more than on his recordings, Harrell's musical voice had a calm velvety tone that gently pushed out rounded notes like soft bubbles of sound. Other than being unique, you'd never imagine any different suffering inside him.
His command of musical motion and the warmth of communication are what really knock you over. Onstage, he does not speak, but walks out, plays, stands immobile during the other's solos, and never misses even one small beat. He is there in such different ways, but the music he creates is very much all there in all the right ways.