Courtesy of Tom Harrell







Bluebird / RCA Victor

A FIRESIDE CHAT WITH TOM HARRELL

May 28, 2001


Having spoken to Tom Harrell almost half a dozen times in the last three years, I come away from our conversations with one impression: Tom Harrell loves to play music. On his last record, Harrell took a right turn to arrange, conduct and perform with his handpicked big band, which subsequently garnered him a Grammy nod (not that that means shit). For his latest, Paradise, Harrell turns left and records with strings. Amazing how an artist seems to so effortlessly reinvent himself. Perhaps like Joe Lovano, Harrell is never satisfied with beating a dead horse. And to both of them, I say thanks. As always, I bring it to you, unedited and in his own words.


FRED JUNG: Let's talk about your latest release on Bluebird, a subsidiary label of RCA Victor, Paradise.

TOM HARRELL: It was recorded in November of 2000. We planned it a long time in advance and we rehearsed for it and we did several days of recording and it was really a pleasure to do. It was really an enjoyable session. I think the strings really bring out the colors of the music in a nice way, in a different way. I used combinations of horns before with Latin rhythms. I've used saxophones and trombones, as well as using a big band on the album before this (Time's Mirror), but this is the first time that I've used a string ensemble under my own name. I've recorded with strings before for other groups, but this was the first time I used strings under my own name. It was very exciting. Most of the recording with the strings was done live, which is a really nice way to record with strings, so you get the interplay with the string section as you're improvising or as you're playing an ensemble part. I like to record. It's nice to get the interplay of the live recording. It's like a live situation. We also performed in a club, a really great club for two nights, right before we went into the studio with a full ensemble, so that gave it the momentum when we went into the studio to create the immediacy of a live situation.


FJ: This is your first recording for the subsidiary label of RCA Victor, Bluebird. It is no secret that RCA Victor has had more than its fair share of shakeups in the past year, did that become a distraction?

TOM HARRELL: Well, they've been really supportive of my music since I began recording for RCA and I'm really grateful to them.


FJ: With Time's Mirror garnering a Grammy nod for you, did you feel pressure from its success?

TOM HARRELL: Well, I always feel pressure when I record. There is always the pressure to do something or at least, the way I look at it, I always try to do something different whenever I record under my own name. I think that's what makes it worthwhile is when you try to take chances and try new things.


FJ: That kind of chancing sounds strangely familiar to Joe Lovano.

TOM HARRELL: Well, I do like challenges and Joe Lovano has given me a lot of inspiration throughout the years to try to do new things. You mentioned the excitement of doing something that's never been done before musically and I think that he really put my direction into focus that that was the most important thing to do. And other people have encouraged me too to try to push the music forward. Danilo Perez told me to do that, to try to push the music forward. Lester Bowie told me to move the music and it gave me great support and by the people of this caliber giving me this kind of encouragement gave me more belief in myself and a realization of the great responsibility that I have. I mean, it's also fun, but it is definitely a responsibility and you have to really be serious everyday to work on the music each day.


FJ: What is your daily practice regimen?

TOM HARRELL: Well, I have a regimen. Playing a brass instrument, you have to put in a certain amount of time each day for the ombisure, so that's at least, for me, it's at least about four hours a day spent playing the trumpet and flugelhorn. And there's certain things that I do to keep my chops happening and then also, I work on ideas and try to work on new melodic ideas when I'm practicing and sometimes, that will generate an idea that I'll write down after playing on the trumpet or flugelhorn. Maybe I might be also go to the keyboard and play an idea at the keyboard and write it down, but I try to write each day too. I keep notebooks with fragments and sometimes they evolve into full length compositions. The length it takes me to write something varies from an afternoon or it could be ten years.


FJ: Are you composing for any project in particular?

TOM HARRELL: I am playing to do a live album in November for the quintet and I'm working on that and I'm also working on arrangements for the live concerts we're doing in June and July. In Chicago, we'll be playing with a quintet and then at the Vanguard, we'll be playing with a septet with Jimmy Greene, Xavier Davis, Ugonna Okegwa, Freddie Bryant and we'll be playing the music from the album.


FJ: You seem to have pushing the music forward on the brain, have you put thought into recording a free music project?

TOM HARRELL: I'd love to explore free music more. I've done that with Joe Lovano and it's really exciting. Also, in the song when we recorded the Labyrinth album on RCA, the song "Cheetah" is a free improvisation and it showed how the benefits of having a working band that we had at the time. The work with Joe Lovano was with an established group when we recorded Live at the Vanguard (Quartets: Live at the Village Vanguard) and that free improvisation there was very exciting and creative.


FJ: The realities of the economy in the new millennium inhibits the maintenance of the working band.

TOM HARRELL: Well, the other members of the group all have other outlets. They're all so talented that I don't worry about it. They keep busy because they're in such great demand and I'm grateful for the opportunities we have to work as a group together. In a way, I have the perfect situation because I have plenty of time at home to practice and write and work on new ideas before each performance, so it's really a great situation.


FJ: The many times we have spoken, your introspective temperament seems to take solace in the calm.

TOM HARRELL: Well, yeah, I enjoy the time by myself, the solitude. I think of it as a way to draw strength from inner resources. It's always good to try and meditate each day, pray each day, and try to find, stay in touch with the deepest part of yourself. I mean, that's where the creativity comes from. It comes from the deepest part of yourself, which is a way to connect with God.


FJ: Which horn are you playing more of, the trumpet or flugelhorn?

TOM HARRELL: Well, I play both. I probably play a little more flugelhorn than trumpet. They are both really stimulating instruments. The flugelhorn has a very warm and round sound and a trumpet cuts through more and maybe creates more excitement in a certain way. A flugelhorn can give rise to pretty melodies and take melodic changes sometimes, which I try to bring to the trumpet too. They both have kind of evolved roles for each other that have been kind of established, but you can sort of interchange them too. You can play the trumpet as if it were a flugelhorn and you can play the flugelhorn with the intensity you would play the trumpet. They're both very closely related. It depends on the specific piece you're playing and also the instrumentation because if you're playing one other instrument, say if I'm playing it in a duo situation with bass or guitar or bass and guitar, the flugelhorn is ideal for that. Trumpet would work too, of course if you play it solidly. But then in a large ensemble sometimes or a really hard driving small group situation, trumpet probably might be more effective in some instances.


FJ: Managing schizophrenia has obviously not hampered your musical progression, has it hindered your daily life?

TOM HARRELL: I guess it's made me tend to seek solitude more or stay home, stay in the apartment more because of social pressure. But I really enjoy interacting with people and it's a very vital part of my life. We're all in this together.


FJ: People are cruel to what they do not understand.

TOM HARRELL: Well, I don't know. I've mentioned to writers before that I'm schizophrenic and so I think that a person with that condition can still lead a normal life with taking the correct medicine. But I think that, maybe this is something apart from the schizophrenia, but I really have a fear of hurting people. I try not to hurt people with my words, but I'm very aware of the fact, well, it's part of, also, the fact that maybe of being famous I guess or having a certain amount of fame then people tend to talk about you. It seems like everything you do becomes magnified sometimes and people talk about everything you do so it's hard to know what is the right choice to make in any situation, so by limiting the amount of social situations, I can think a little more about what I'm doing and think about it later about maybe what mistakes I made or how to correct or how to make amends.


FJ: I have long feared that the transgressions of my past would haunt me and the burden would be too much to bear. You seem very conscious of your oversights.

TOM HARRELL: I guess we can all, I try to do the best I can. Always do the best that you can and try not to hurt anyone.


FJ: It must be comforting to have the endorsement of your wife and her steadfast support to seek solace in.

TOM HARRELL: She's a wonderful person and she's a great manager and she's a great wife and I'm really lucky that I met her.


FJ: Is RCA Victor supporting an extensive tour for you?

TOM HARRELL: Well, they are going to do an ad campaign for eight weeks, which is really nice of them. I'm really grateful for their support. We have some really good engagements coming up. We're playing at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago in June and the Village Vanguard in June and at Stanford University in July, in Greece in July.


FJ: If you had a one candle wish for the world, what would you yearn for?

TOM HARRELL: I would wish for peace among all people and an end to hunger and an end to disease.

Fred Jung is Jazz Weekly's Editor-In-Chief and still wondering who let the dogs out. Email Him.