Phil Woods/Tom Harrell Quintet

[Jazzrook]

A quintet that deserves to be better known:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctiFHWLjoKI

[charles t]

rookster: A couple of decades ago, I was able to talk my way backstage at Catalina's Bar in Hollywood - via a request for a signed LP - the night Woods & Harrell were performing.

During their performance, I recall that Harrell would recoil into an 'inward shell' and Phil would reach out an arm to reassure his bandmate.

This is an extensive survey bearing upon Tom's (lifelong) form of schizophrenia and it begs for the reader's attention span:

http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/2009/05/tom-harrell-part-1-interviews.html

[Ian Thumwood]

Harrell is seriously under-rated both as a trumpeter and a composer. I think he is someone who seems to be able to shape the jazz he performs into something totally different from what anyone else is doing. It' not Hard Bop and you can't really classify it is avant garde yet the style is progressive and lyrical at the same time. An even better album is "Sail away" which features the likes of James Williams, Joe Lovano , Dave Leibman and John Abercrombie and is recommended both for the quality of the solos and the sheer originality of the writing. Many of the tunes also crop up on the Aebersold play-a-long too and , whilst very sophisticated and difficult to play, open a door into his creative mind.