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Article: Like Night and Day.(schizophrenic jazz trumpeter Tom Harrell)(Interview)
- Article from:
- Esquire
- Article date:
- December 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Hearst Communications, reprinted with permission of Hearst. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Tom Harrell is a brilliant trumpet player. He is schizophrenic. When he's playing, he makes sense of the world. When he's not, the world stops.
Tom Harrell, dressed all in black, stands in a dark corner of a crowded Chicago nightclub. Sometimes he prefers a closet, but tonight the corner will do. He's clearing the voices from his head, trying to stay cool. Don't worry, he tells himself over and over, be positive ... believe in yourself ... count your blessings.... The banalities don't stick, but they help push aside the voices a bit, and now he is ready to go to work.
Harrell shuffles out of the darkness and onto the stage, where the four members of his ...