Stefon Harris hits right note on bold new album. (Jazz).

Along with pianist Jason Moran, vibraphonist Stefon Harris is one of the 20-somethings (he's actually 29 years old) who seems to be the future of Blue Note. And in the past few years he has impressively made the transition from boy wonder with a lot of potential to young man with a strong sense of purpose.

His new release, The Grand Unification Theory, sees him make his boldest, most ambitious statement to date. It features a 12-piece mixed-generation cast, featuring Steve Turre, Xavier Davis, Tim Warfield, Kahlil Kwame Bell and Terreon Gully among others, performing complex, articulate compositions which were originally conceived as a suite following a commission from a New York arts centre. Harris has been unabashedly post-modern in his approach, taking the music into anything from post-bop to African rhythms and classical orchestrations. It is hardly surprising though, as Harris doesn't see jazz as his formative language.

"The truth is that I actually didn't hear Charlie Parker until I was about 18 years old," he says candidly. "I listened to a lot of classical music before that and I actually learned AABA, rhythm changes and blues forms after the sonato allegro.

"With The Grand Unification Theory it is really a philosophical thing. It's a kind of a Buddhist concept where you bring things together holistically and you stop the whole ownership issue ... you know this whole `I ...