First Impressions (HighNote Records)

Tom Harrell

Released September 18, 2015

DownBeat Five-Star Review

YouTube:

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=6a7-GedvBtQ&list=OLAK5uy_nQ41bYkeEpGRQ8-oIETh_zbg4bOI3FocI

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/album/0jb5CI1ujuLcYu61odKXLl?si=JraV2m0XSG-E3KyH7t2NOg

About:

“Both Debussy and Ravel transformed the world of music by creating a new sensibility of beauty of sound,” says trumpeter/composer, Tom Harrell, who himself is known for his superb lyricism and poetry in his playing and writing. With his nine-piece chamber ensemble, Harrell interprets the works of these two French composers and blurs the boundaries between jazz and classical music. The personnel includes the members of his working band of over 10 years — Wayne Escoffery, Danny Grissett, Ugonna Okegwo, and Johnathan Blake; a notable jazz woodwind player, Charles Pillow on flutes; and three string players who are equally adept at classical and jazz repertoires — Meg Okura (violin), Rubin Kodheli (cello), and Rale Micic (guitar).

Track Listing:

1. Sainte (Maurice Ravel) 5:07

2. Voices (Maurice Ravel) 8:14

3. Perspectives (Tom Harrell) 11:49

4. Beau Soir (Claude Debussy) 7:28

5. Reverie (Claude Debussy) 5:56

6. Passepied (Claude Debussy) 11:29

7. Sarabande (Claude Debussy) 6:26

8. Musique Du Café (Tom Harrell) 6:58

Personnel:

Tom Harrell: trumpet & flugelhorn

Wayne Escoffery: soprano & tenor saxophone

Charles Pillow: flute & bass flute

Danny Grissett: piano

Rale Micic: guitar

Meg Okura: violin

Rubin Kodheli: cello

Ugonna Okegwo: bass

Johnathan Blake: drums

Recorded April 8, 2013, at Avatar Studios, Newyork, NY (except track 7, recorded May 13, 2013, at Water Music Recording Studios, Hoboken, NJ)

Produced by Robert Sandin and Tom Harrell

Co-Produced by Angela Harrell

Engineered by Dave Darligton (except track 7, engineered by Sean Kelly)

Mixed by Dave Darligton

Mastered by Mark Wilder

Photograhy by Angela Harrell

Design by Junko Mayumi & Keiji Obata

Review:

It would be easy to categorize trumpeter Tom Harrell’s First Impressions as a classical/jazz fusion in the tradition of Third Stream, but that would be unnecessarily limiting. Yes, six out of the eight tracks are credited either to Claude Debussy or Maurice Ravel, and the album features a string section. But it’s probably more useful to think of the disc simply as a triumph of jazz composition, and leave it at that. Augmenting his working quintet with flute, guitar, violin and cello, Harrell here is doing the kind of detailed and challenging ensemble writing that one also hears these days from the likes Jamie Baum and Bill Frisell, or John Hollenbeck for his Large Ensemble. It’s not surprising that the centerpiece of First Impressions is Harrell’s own nearly 12-minute “Perspectives,” a multi-section work that deploys varied Brazilian rhythms and disparate melodic episodes, including an atonal piano solo passage. The final tenor solo by Wayne Escoffery is set against a fast walk in the rhythm section and slow-moving chords from the winds and strings. Harrell’s flugelhorn solo is light and free, mixing short and long phrases, a lyric bird on the wing. The counterpart to “Perspectives” is Harrell’s arrangement of Debussy’s “Passepied,” which includes a bossa nova section for guitarist Rale Micic and a double cadenza for Escoffery on tenor and Meg Okura on violin, each with its own distinct character. Harrell’s handling of textures and structure is a balm throughout the album. Each one of these pieces, no matter how varied the contents, moves with inexorable rightness from section to section, always with something new to catch the ear. Despite the broad palette and far-reaching rhythmic variety, Harrell has a jazzman’s understanding of grooves—the habanera of Ravel’s “Voices” is de rigueur, with the added punch of the stop-time section that drives Harrell’s solo. This is a jazz record. An uncommonly good one.

Jon Garelick (DownBeat)