Every year the BargaJazz Festival features the participation of one of the Jazz legends – and this years XXII edition is no exception. The guest of honour will be the composer and trumpet player Tom Harrell – a great in the field of contemporary Jazz. Tom Harrell will play with the BargaJazz Orchestra some of his compositions arranged for the occasion by the contestants, directed as always by Bruno Tommaso. It is a real treat for us that such a musician has accepted the challenge to be the central feature of the Festival.
On the 26th of August there will be the added bonus of a concert together with the renown Italian pianist Dado Moroni with whom he recorded the outstanding recording “Humanity”.
Giancarlo Rizzardi
TOM HARRELL
This American trumpet player was born in in Illinois but grew-up in California and first came to the publics attention early on when he joined Stan Kenton’s orchestra a s a young twenty year old, before passing on to Woody Herman and then to Horace Silver’s group with a move to New York where he quickly became established as one of the most sought after trumpet players on the international scene – playing with the likes of Lee Konitz, Mel Lewis and George Russell.
In 1983 he begins a lengthy collaboration with Phil Woods and starts to record as leader; after this in 1989 he puts together his first group with Joe Lovano, Danilo Pérez, Peter Washington e Bill Goodwin. His collaboration with Dado Moroni is a long term project which recently produced a wonderful duo recording in which “The long dreamy melodic trumpet lines combine perfectly with the muscular and pyrotechnic piano of Moroni, producing a spectacular encounter on a level of pure poetry” (All About Jazz). Harrell displays great originality in his improvisation and his logically constructed phrases are always elegant and expressed on the instrument with a splendid voice, influenced by the styles of Blue Mitchell and above all Clifford Brown.
His compositions have become part of the international repertoire and are played in the USA and Europe, published by J. Aebersold: they range from meditative ballads to highly rhythmic tracks inspired by rhythm’n’blues or even world music, and are always appreciated by improvisers because Harrell composes with the live performance in mind: “I like to think of my music as a play of of colours over a rhythm” he has said “it’s like inviting the listeners to visit an art gallery to view an exhibition of various paintings. We express our feelings through timbres and colours within our world of sense, so as to then transcend them and enter the spiritual dimension”.
Francesco Martinelli