For those unaware, the sound collage that opens saxophonist Hiruy Tirfe’s debut album, 10,000 Hours, features a host of influential voices.

Prominent among them, naturally, is author Malcolm Gladwell, whose oft-quoted theory about the time required to gain expertise gives the album its title.

But it also includes former Sixer Allen Iverson, via an excerpt of his legendary “practice” rant; Questlove discussing sacrifice; Will Smith on his “ridiculous, sickening work ethic”; and Barack and Michelle Obama lecturing students on hard work.

It’s clear that Tirfe has drawn inspiration from these motivational pronouncements, and that it’s paid off: at 29, Tirfe has performed with The Roots, Patti LaBelle, Solange Knowles and other luminaries, while honing his skills on stages in Philly and beyond.

But the key to his burgeoning success might be rooted less in these celebrity examples than in the humbler words heard later in the album. On “Mom and Dad,” Tirfe interviews his parents, immigrants from the East African country of Eritrea, about the struggles they faced in their adopted home.

Indeed, 10,000 Hours marks Tirfe’s arrival, driven in no small part by his parents’ example. “Growing up as a first-generation American, a first-generation musician, and the firstborn in my family, Malcolm Gladwell’s [ideas] really spoke to me,” Tirfe explains, sitting in the music room at Overbrook High School, where he’d just finished teaching.

“My parents made the sacrifices that they did to make sure I am where I am today, and it was important to me to get that across. One of my first memories is my dad going back to school while my mom was working in parking lots at 30th Street Station and South Street. It wasn’t easy for them, and they instilled a lot of discipline and work ethic in me. Their example has been truly powerful and meaningful.”

1. 10,000 Hours (The Opener)
2. A Cry For Help
3. Trial
4. Incentive
5. NFF
6. Live Your Life And Take Control
7. Little Ghetto Boy
8. 10,000 Hours
9. Mom & Dad
10. The Believer
11. Chances
12. Second Nature
13. No Saving (Extended)
14. 10,000 Hours (The Closer)
15. No Saving (Radio Edit)

On an album where diverse influences endlessly converge, the new recording opens on the informative of 10,000 Hours (The Opener) and the serenely opulent A Cry For Help and they are followed by the forthright Trial (which features the impassioned rasp of beloved Eagles center Jason Kelce and his iconic victory speech following Super Bowl LII), the impassioned Incentive, the joyfully jaunty NFF, before we are then brought forth the free flowing musical majesties found within Live Your Life And Take Control and a soulful rendition of Donny Hathaway’s Little Ghetto Boy.

With the album taking a turn around the halfway point, evoking the Studio Wednesdays scene with the appearance of spoken word artist Chiara Chantelle, up next is the a rousing, near 12 minute take of the aforementioned titular 10,000 Hours and the low slung foot tapper Mom & Dad and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the flourishing The Believer, the humbling Chances, then comes the rhythmic Second Nature, the veritably stoic, yet elegantly-hued No Saving (Extended), the album rounding out on the .36 second drum lesson within 10,000 Hours (The Closer), closing on the beautifully crafted, R&B ambiance of No Saving (Radio Edit) (both versions featuring R&B singer-songwriter Mare).

The album’s core band features musicians whose paths Tirfe crossed on the local scene — pianist Luke Carlos O’Reilly, bassist Matthew Keppler and drummer Lionel Forrester Jr. — joined by guests met through his wide-ranging experiences, including trombonist Aaron Goode and keyboardists Dan Rouse and Kayla Childs. (In her neo-soul guise as Black Buttafly, Childs will open for Tirfe at the Bride).

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