A highly gifted jazz soloist, Tom Harrell is considered one of the top trumpeters of his generation, known for a sophisticated harmonic approach that combines the power of Clifford Brown with the lyricism of Chet Baker and Art Farmer. Following his emergence in the 1970s with Horace Silver, he came into his own playing with Phil Woods and issuing a steady stream of acoustic post-bop albums like 1988's Stories and 1999's Time's Mirror; the latter earned a Grammy nomination for Best Large Ensemble Jazz Performance. Harrell has continued to hone his style, as on 2007's quintet date Light On and 2013's piano-less Colors of a Dream with bassist Esperanza Spalding. Subtly adventurous, he explored the work of Debussy and Ravel on 2015's First Impressions and paired with trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire on 2016's Something Gold, Something Blue. However, intimate post-bop dates like 2019's Infinity and 2022's Oak Tree, remain his passion.