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2018 Jazz Journalists Association “Trumpeter of the Year”
Tom Harrell
Brings His Quartet to Soka to Celebrate Latest Recording
Moving Pictures
Friday, October 26 at 8pm
(Aliso Viejo, CA, September 17, 2018) – Legendary trumpeter Tom Harrell is one of the most creative and dynamic jazz instrumentalists and composers of our time. Praised for his melodic genius, Tom Harrell and his Quartet come to Soka Performing Arts Center for one-night-only to perform his latest recording Moving Pictures on Friday, October 26, 2018, at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets are $40 for adults; and $32 for students, seniors, and active military families. Tickets are on sale now and may be purchased online at PerformingArts.Soka.edu or by calling 949‑480‑4ART (4278).
About Tom Harrell and Moving Pictures
Praised by Newsweek for his pure melodic genius, Tom Harrell is a master of the jazz idiom, constantly seeking new challenges and influences. He has written scores and arrangements for ballet and symphony and chamber orchestras. Even with a discography of over 280 recordings and a career that spans more than five decades, Harrell has managed to stay fresh and current as he continues to actively record and tour around the world. Harrell all but transcends musical labels. His music runs the gamut from the modal and melodic to uncommon modernisms that sonically broach the film soundtrack and/or the avant-garde. He is a frequent winner in DownBeat and JazzTimes magazines’ Critics and Readers Polls and a multiple Grammy nominee.
His warm, burnished sound on the trumpet and the flugelhorn, and the unparalleled harmonic and rhythmic sophistication in his playing and writing, have earned Harrell his place as a jazz icon to aspiring musicians and devoted fans alike. His music is at once intelligent, soulful, fresh and accessible. No matter the size of the group he works with, the trumpeter-composer deftly weaves complex and innovative harmonies together with daring rhythmic concepts and unforgettable melodies while utilizing the available colors to full effect. Harrell has worked with important figures in jazz history including Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Dizzie Gillespie and many more.
Moving Pictures, Harrell’s latest project, is a quartet comprising long-time associates Danny Grissett on keys, Ugonna Okegwo on bass and Adam Cruz on drums. Moving Pictures’ repertoire boasts some of Harrell’s most daring and mind-blowing compositions to date. Where such recent albums as Colors of a Dream and First Impressions augmented Harrell’s ensemble with additional instrumentation, and the majority of his recordings feature (at least) a second horn in the front line, Moving Picture specifically trains our ear to the tonal beauty and improvisational ingenuity of Harrell’s own horns. (In addition to trumpet, Harrell also takes up flugelhorn.) “Being the only horn gives me the opportunity to take a different approach to phrasing. It allows for some freedom to embellish the melody,” Harrell says. The horn and rhythm format also allowed Harrell, the composer, to investigate overlooked options. “As a writer, I wanted to explore the resources of the quartet with piano, bass, drums, and trumpet,” Harrell says, “I thought it would also be an interesting contrast and complement to a couple of the piano-less projects I’ve done recently, especially Trip and Colors of a Dream. “
Tom Harrell
About Soka Performing Arts Center
Soka Performing Arts Center opened its doors in 2011 and is now one Southern California’s cultural jewels. Located at 1 University Drive, Aliso Viejo on the campus of Soka University of America, the 1,000-seat concert hall features world-class acoustics designed by Yasuhisa Toyota, acoustic designer of noted performance venues like Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
Designed truly to reflect the university’s commitment to sustainability, the concert hall and adjacent Maathai Hall (featuring a black box theatre and dance studio) have been built to Gold LEED standards and feature vegetated green roofs. Photo voltaic cells on the Soka Performing Arts Center roof generate approximately 15% of the facility’s electrical needs. Soka University of America is a private, non-profit, four-year liberal arts college and graduate program. The campus is ranked in the Top 25 National Liberal Arts Colleges in US News and World Report’s “Best Colleges 2019.”
The university is open to top students of all nationalities and beliefs and was founded upon the Buddhist principles of peace, human rights, and the sanctity of life. For more information: www.soka.edu.
Listing Info:
Tom Harrell Quartet – Moving Picture Tour
Friday, October 26, 2018, at 8:00 p.m.
Event URL: http://bit.ly/SokaHarrellQuartet
Soka Performing Arts Center
Soka University of America
1 University Drive
Aliso Viejo, CA 92656
949-480‑4ART (4278)
Tickets: $40/$32 students, seniors, and active military families
Press contact:
Renee Bodie, General Manager
rbodie@soka.edu
(949.480.4821)
Gary W. Murphy Public Relations Consultant
garymurphypr@garymurphypr.com
(310.949.0178)