Review by David Badham, Jazz Journal, February 1985:
I've given the attribution of this issue as it is on the sleeve, but it's really Harrell's record! Noted first on Mulligan's superb Walk On Water LP, his superb tone grabbed me by the ears. I am not going overboard when I say he reminds me of two of my alltime favourite brass players — Bix and Bill Coleman!!! Not by imitation, but for seeming to make the very metal of the instrument ring as Bix did, and by the adventurous exploration of its whole range combined with sheer daring a la Coleman. A quite superb display whether playing fast (Scat) or slow (as on the genuinely haunting Love Song).
Leader Gordon Brisker contributes nice deep virile tenor solos in the West Coast tradition, and combines with great sensitivity in the ensembles. Four of the seven themes are also by him and, with the sole exception of Snake People (which is really only minor TV incidental music), very nice they are too, the best (and the best played) being the title track and For J And T. The synthesiser is so tastefully applied here that it does, in fact, help for once. On Cornerstone it gives substantial body, freeing the horns to decorate, while on Love Song it harmonises with flute and flugelhorn to make this small group sound twice the size. A very nice as well as exciting record without a shriek or sour note anywhere — a thoroughly modern production without the pain of many of its contemporaries!
For J And T; Smoke Gets In Your Eyes; In The Land Of The Snake People (19.45) — Cornerstone; Love Letters; Love Song; Scat (23.10)
Gordon Brisker (ts/fl); Tom Harrell (t/flh); David Loeb (p/rh); John Eldsvoog (syn); Bob Bewman (b); Peter Donald (d).
Hollywood Ca. February 1983.
Sea Breeze SB 2016 [1984]
email: grumpywon@gmail.com
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