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| Tom Harrell, 2012 (Detroit Jazz Festival) * |
© Andrea Canter
In Pamela Espeland's current series of blogs (Pleased and
Flipped: Memories of the Artists Quarter), a number of favorite memories
include hearing trumpeter Tom Harrell. My
first encounter-- or rather experience-- hearing Harrell was at the Artists
Quarter on Jackson Street
-- must have been the mid to late 90s. I don't remember the full band but Craig
Taborn was on piano, which is the main reason I went. Craig's mom Marjorie and
I worked together for years in the Minneapolis Schools and I had heard about
Craig for a long time but this was my first chance to see him perform. And I
had certainly heard of Tom Harrell, but not enough.
Craig was brilliant as I expected. Harrell was brilliant and
unpredictable, not just musically. I was not fully aware of his mental health
issues prior to the gig. And when he had the trumpet in his mouth, he was
intense, focused, fully in the moment and the music. But when he stepped away from the mic, it was
like he entered a different dimension. He looked tortured, isolated, unaware. At one point, the piece ended, and he walked
off. No one seemed to know where he went
or when (if) he would return. (Eventually he did.) Then I learned he had a
diagnosis of schizophrenia which medication controlled to some degree, but he
was at that time largely dependent on bandmates, managers, etc. to help him
control the disruptive demons that seemed to rise up when the music stopped. He
said nothing to the audience. I'm not sure if he was aware that he had a crowd
listening.
I believe Tom Harrell played the AQ several times, maybe
more, at its first two locations; I don't remember him playing more recently on
7th Place.
But I've seen him a couple times since my first encounter. In New York, I saw him in duo with a French
pianist at the intimate Kitano. Relative to that gig on Jackson Street, he seemed more relaxed if
less organized--he had charts of new music all over the music stands and floor
and still seemed to encase himself in a wall of isolation when not blowing his
horn. Again, the music was fresh and beautiful.
A year ago, I saw Tom Harrell again, with the Charles
McPherson Quintet at the Detroit Jazz Festival. He seemed less isolated, more
connected to the audience although still made little eye contact and no
comment. His horn again did all the talking.
Harrell is an amazing performer and composer. But perhaps
most amazing is his continual determination to rise above those demons and let
the music flow. And bless Kenny Horst for giving Tom the opportunity to play at
the AQ, to show listeners that music really does conquer all.
* I didn't start hauling a camera into jazz clubs until about 2005. My only photos of Tom Harrell are from the 2012 Detroit Jazz Festival.
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| Tom Harrell with Charles McPherson's quintet, Detroit 2012 |
