The intensity of his playing, along with the structure of music itself and the supportive cohort of musicians who work with him, seems to mitigate the diseaseвЂ™s hallmarks of disordered thinking and withdrawal from other people. HarrellвЂ™s fellow musicians often mention the honesty of his playing, his authentic feeling. Every attempt at вЂrepresentingвЂ™ me by the вЂcreation of a false feelingвЂ™ and suchlike is doomed to end in failure because of the real feeling one can put into piano-playing.вЂќ Though institutionalized, Schreber was able to write a memoir in which he observed, вЂњDuring piano playing the nonsensical twaddle of the voices which talk to me is drowned. When told about Harrell, neurologist Oliver Sacks, the author most recently of Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, was reminded of one of the most studied cases of schizophrenia in history, that of Daniel Paul Schreber, a German who died in 1911. His success is especially remarkable because he still experiences delusional thinking, hears voices and shies at noises, such as a cameraвЂ™s click. His fellow performers report that he is remarkably dependable and considerate. In a typical year Harrell has between 80 and 120 performance dates in the United States, Europe, South America and Japan. But it remains very hard for a schizophrenic to make a coherent life, much less construct a stellar career. There is no cure for schizophrenia, although generations of drugs developed during the past 20 years have made the disease more bearable for many.

ItвЂ™s another thing altogether to hear this sentiment from Harrell, for whom music literally is transforming: вЂњOne of the first reasons I wanted to play the trumpet is that it healed me.вЂќ WeвЂ™ve read about countless performers who proclaim that music is their reason for being. We have all, as listeners, experienced its charms-been soothed by lullabies, excited by fast tempos, consoled by stately rhythms. It is, of course, a clichГ© to cite musicвЂ™s power. He once apologized to an audience, вЂњIвЂ™m sorry IвЂ™m not a more charismatic figure.вЂќ HeвЂ™s aware of the discomfort that disperses only when he is playing his shimmering music. His appearance unnerves people, even as their hearts go out to him. For more than four decades he has struggled with the illness and with the debilitating side effects of the imperfect medications used to control it. Not everyone in the audience knows that he has schizophrenia the disease was diagnosed when Harrell, вЂ™67, was a Stanford freshman. His head is bowed, his chest caves in, the hand holding the trumpet hangs limp. (Sorry, Wynton).вЂќ Phil Schaap, curator of Jazz at Lincoln Center, says of Harrell, вЂњHe has it all-technique, lyricism, beauty and energy.вЂќД«ut the sight of Harrell when he lowers his horn is also compelling. Newsweek has called Harrell a genius, and Entertainment Weekly named his recording The Art of Rhythm its best jazz album of 1998, celebrating вЂњHarrellвЂ™s arrival as a composer and as the premier trumpeter of his generation. For this week each will lay improvisations over HarrellвЂ™s compositions, and every performance will be distinctive. Cindy Blackman, intense and glamorous, is on drums Cameron Brown, with 40 years of recording behind him, plays double bass. Harrell and Lovano have played together for at least 25 years. TonightвЂ™s quartet plays together expertly even without rehearsal they trust each other.

Harrell usually plays and tours the United States and Europe with the intensively rehearsed quintet he leads. Then, on a standard-вЂњBody and SoulвЂќ-his playing turns slow and sweet, twining with LovanoвЂ™s sax. HeвЂ™s inventive, completely concentrated, playing with the audienceвЂ™s expectations about where the tune will go next. From his trumpet comes a cascade of notes, impossibly high and impossibly fast, yet with each note articulated. With his horn up, he is a compelling figure: a gray-haired, ghost-pale man in black leather jacket and black jeans. Toward the back are some lucky tourists whoвЂ™ve walked the few blocks up from Times Square.Д«urly sax player Joe Lovano takes the quartetвЂ™s first solo, then comes Harrell. Some of his fellow jazz professionals, many graying, came early to get front-row seats. At the Iridium Jazz ClubвЂ™s tiny tables are several groups of young Europeans on a pilgrimage to hear trumpeter and composer Tom Harrell.

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