Tom Harrell: Time's Mirror

A challenging new assignment, this marks the first time Harrell has put on tape what amounts to a big band session. He's provided all the charts and a number of original compositions, many of them going back as far as the '60s, and through these moments one gets a more tangible picture of Harrell's influences and predilections. For instance, the newly-composed "Daily News" sports a jagged melody line redolent of Eddie Harris' "Freedom Jazz Dance." Both the opening "Shapes" and the title track suggest a shrewd awareness of the music of fellow trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, with their resonant and full brass scoring and a yearning sentiment of melancholia. Yet these are mere reference points and ultimately Harrell's writing, particularly on the infectious "Train Shuffle," takes on a life of its own.

As strong as the writing is, solo work from Harrell and the others is of a high caliber, girded ever so tastefully by the trumpeter's poetic use of supporting lines. In fact, the liners mention Harrell's gratitude to bassist Sam Jones, with whom he led a big band in the late '70s, in terms of integrating solos and the written backgrounds. Harrell's regular pianist, Xavier Davis, Don Braden, and Conrad Herwig are standouts in terms of their solo spots and this tight ensemble, some 17 strong, manages to nail Harrell's charts with a precision that belies their relative difficulty.

Benefiting from the healthy gestation period that many of these tunes went through, Time's Mirror is a fine illustration of where Harrell is at currently in terms of his writing and trumpet playing. It's his most complete recorded statement yet to appear and hopefully it's a harbinger of more like-minded projects to come.

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