Tom Harrell
Prana Dance
High Note Records
By George W. Harris

Call me hyperbolic, call me hyPObolic, but don’t call me late for dinner-in my opinion, Tom Harrell just might be the most important composer of this generation. He puts out a record about once a year, and everyone is not only different from it’s predecessor, it’s downright fantastic in it’s own right. His writing is clever and sophisticated without being inaccessible or sterile. The songs swing, but with quirky tweakings that keep you from accurately predicting where they are going. And while Harrell’s horn is a glistening glory in itself, like all wise leaders, he doesn’t hog the spotlight, but gives plenty of space for his band mates, on this disc most notably to keyboardist Danny Grisset and saxist Wayne Escoffery.

Almost all of the songs,like the title track and “Marching” have a gentle, slightly funky CTI-type backbeat to them, even with odd meters thrown in. Gressett’s Fender Rhodes sounds perfectly fit into the genre with his supporting chords and solos. Not sounding dated at all on the instrument, he actually comes across fresh and springy, particularly on “Ride.” A simple four note melody like “Maharaja” is taken through a myriad of directions by the time it comes back to home, with Harrell’s horn guiding the path like a sextant on a vessel. Escoffery has a warm, room filling tone that fills in every gap that is in his way, providing perfect contrast to Harrell on “Sequenza” and “In The Infinite.” This is a band that will impress you more and more with each lesson. Harrell hasn’t toured in awhile, and we need to see this guy with this band. Great music for the mind and feet.