Ambrose Akinmusire

[jlhoots]

I had a listen to 'The Imagined Savior' on spotify last night. I definitely think he's got some flavour in his playing. Reminded me a bit of Jonathan Finlayson in places, both playing and composition wise, at least on the tracks that didn't feature strings and vocals with lyrics. Interesting that they've both spent time with Steve Coleman. Not an album that i'll buy (although the first couple of tracks did have me having a look on Amazon) but i'll keep an eye out for his future endeavours. Will be a bit of a 'case by case' guy for me i think.

strings and vocals with lyrics.

That's part of what I can live without.

[mjazzg]

I'm not usually a great fan of strings/vocals but I do think Akinmusire often uses them to very good effect - sparingly and never in a way that's overly romantic/cloying. I also admire his willingness to engage in social commentary on these albums - he addresses some important issues and it's not often that's done these days

Edited June 24, 2014 by mjazzg

[mrjazzman]

Ok, as you can see I'm not here very often. But I'm one who has no problem admitting when I'm wrong, and after seeing Ambrose Akinmusire(he even pronounced his last name upon my request)live at Yoshi's in Oakland, I'm here to admit that I was TOTALLY wrong about this kid. I said that I couldn't hear any lineage in his recordings. There's nothing like a live session to clear up any misconceptions, AND THEY WERE ALL CLEARED UP ON TUE NIGHT, I was sitting at a table that was so close to the stage that it was touching the stage, I can tell you what all the guy's shoes looked like. I heard Hub blasted into my ears the entire session, Freddie Hubbard is coming through loud and clear in this kid. His writing skills are amazing at this early stage of his career. The drummer Justin Brown, phenomenal. At one point I closed my eyes and I thought I was listening to Tony Williams, unbelievable. Re: Walter Smith, after re-listening to "Casually Introducing Walter Smith III", a very solid Neo Bopper, I believe Neo Bop defines the group's sound and direction, Neo Bop soundly rooted in Hardbop. Harish Raghavan, a very solid bass player even though he hit an extreme sour note during an arco solo on one cut. IMHO the weakest link in this strong chain is the piano player Sam Harris. Some of his solos seemed to wander a bit. To top it off, Ambrose is a Native Son, local kid from Oakland, CA. Contrary to what I posted previously, I would choose this kid over any of the guys I mentioned, I have his 1st 2 releases, am re-listening to them and ordered the latest release(The Imagined Savior Is Far Easier To Paint)from Amazon just before I started writing this. Also, for someone who is relatively new to this game, he has an engaging, magnetic stage presence. There was a segment with a local drummer and keyboardist that could have been left out IMHO. Last, the worst thing about the set to my amazement, at the end of the set the audience did not make enough noise to bring the group back out for at least one more cut,(8pm set, no 10pm set) unbelievable....

Edited June 25, 2014 by mrjazzman

[relyles]

mrjazzman's follow up seems to confirm some of the above posts that Akinmusire makes a much better impression live than he has on his ambitious, if not fully realized recordings.

[Steve Reynolds]

mrjazzman's follow up seems to confirm some of the above posts that Akinmusire makes a much better impression live than he has on his ambitious, if not fully realized recordings.

That above post has me wanting to see the band live

[Clunky]

I heard Hub blasted into my ears the entire session, Freddie Hubbard is coming through loud and clear in this kid.

When I spoke briefly to Ambrose at the gig I attended he mentioned Marcus Belgrave as an influence. I'm not familiar enough with Belgrave to know if Akinmusire has audible evidence of this influence. I thought he sounded a bit like Woody Shaw.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Clunky

[xybert]

Ok, as you can see I'm not here very often. But I'm one who has no problem admitting when I'm wrong, and after seeing Ambrose Akinmusire(he even pronounced his last name upon my request)live at Yoshi's in Oakland, I'm here to admit that I was TOTALLY wrong about this kid. I said that I couldn't hear any lineage in his recordings. There's nothing like a live session to clear up any misconceptions, AND THEY WERE ALL CLEARED UP ON TUE NIGHT, I was sitting at a table that was so close to the stage that it was touching the stage, I can tell you what all the guy's shoes looked like. I heard Hub blasted into my ears the entire session, Freddie Hubbard is coming through loud and clear in this kid. His writing skills are amazing at this early stage of his career. The drummer Justin Brown, phenomenal. At one point I closed my eyes and I thought I was listening to Tony Williams, unbelievable. Re: Walter Smith, after re-listening to "Casually Introducing Walter Smith III", a very solid Neo Bopper, I believe Neo Bop defines the group's sound and direction, Neo Bop soundly rooted in Hardbop. Harish Raghavan, a very solid bass player even though he hit an extreme sour note during an arco solo on one cut. IMHO the weakest link in this strong chain is the piano player Sam Harris. Some of his solos seemed to wander a bit. To top it off, Ambrose is a Native Son, local kid from Oakland, CA. Contrary to what I posted previously, I would choose this kid over any of the guys I mentioned, I have his 1st 2 releases, am re-listening to them and ordered the latest release(The Imagined Savior Is Far Easier To Paint)from Amazon just before I started writing this. Also, for someone who is relatively new to this game, he has an engaging, magnetic stage presence. There was a segment with a local drummer and keyboardist that could have been left out IMHO. Last, the worst thing about the set to my amazement, at the end of the set the audience did not make enough noise to bring the group back out for at least one more cut,(8pm set, no 10pm set) unbelievable....

mrjazzman's follow up seems to confirm some of the above posts that Akinmusire makes a much better impression live than he has on his ambitious, if not fully realized recordings.

Sounds like he's also now enjoying the albums, as far fetched as that seems considering the original adverse reaction. Akinmusire must have made one hell of an impression live!

I've got no idea where anyone is on the mountain, baby.

[erwbol]

New quartet live 2 CD out in a few days.

Hailed by NPR Music as “one of the most talked-about names in contemporary jazz,” 35-year-old trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire has proven himself an artist of rare ability and wide-ranging aesthetic interests on his previous Blue Note albums When the Heart Emerges Glistening (2011) and the imagined savior is far easier to paint (2014). With his expansive new double-album A Rift in Decorum: Live at the Village Vanguard, Akinmusire reaches a new pinnacle: he and his longtime bandmates Sam Harris (piano), Harish Raghavan (bass) and Justin Brown (drums) join a distinguished strata of jazz artists who’ve made live recordings in the hallowed New York City venue.

“Justin and I have talked a lot about the spirits that we can feel in the Vanguard,” Akinmusire marvels. “It’s like I’m being bear-hugged by the spirits in there. Even just the people who showed up: Lee Konitz came down during the week, Billy Hart came down. Especially in a time like now, it’s great to have a place that still exists in the way that it originally existed.”

Akinmusire has worked more typically in a quintet setting with tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III by his side, but A Rift in Decorum finds him opting for the sparser texture and turn-on-a-dime execution of a quartet. “In history we don’t see too many trumpet quartets,” the leader says. “I think a lot of trumpet players shy away from it. I was into the challenge. When it’s just quartet I’m a little bit more free to express all of my influences.”

About the album title, Akinmusire muses: “A ‘rift’ to me relates to investigating a single moment. I think rifts are what make things beautiful. ‘Decorum’ ties into my feelings about what’s going on these days, musically and in the world. But there’s also something about the red curtains at the Vanguard: somehow in connection with that visual image A Rift in Decorum makes sense to me. Musically, I would add, the title is about celebrating the negatives and the positives, the ugly parts as well as the beautiful parts.”

How do these rifts manifest in the music? “I’ve been really into exploring extremes,” the trumpeter explains. “I take things that are really in your face and things that are so not in your face, and then it’s about rubbing those things together and hinting about a middle, or even questioning what a middle is. That’s what this quartet is about in my mind. So you’ll have a tune where we’re playing a lot of material, and then you’ll have something that’s much more spare, almost Morton Feldmanesque, or like a Chopin Nocturne. I think more and more I’m like this as a person — extremes, polar opposites, the far reaches of both.”

Akinmusire’s bandmates, uniquely attuned to his musical instincts and goals, bring those extremes into vivid relief, from the rapid-fire intricacy of “Brooklyn (ODB),” “Trumpet Sketch (milky pete)” and “H.A.M.S.” (short for “hard-ass m-f’ing song”) to the prevailing calm of “A song to exhale to (diver song),” or the solemn lyricism and bass-drone harmony of “Withered.” The longest bond in the band is between Akinmusire and Justin Brown: “We’ve been playing together as long as I’ve been playing jazz. I met Justin when I was 14 or 15 years old. There’s a long history of trumpet and drums together, so it’s been great to grow up and develop with a drummer as fantastic as him.”

Akinmusire met Harris and Raghavan around the same time in the mid-’00s. “Sam and I went to Manhattan School of Music together. Every time I heard him he would sound completely different. He checks out a lot of contemporary art, classical music, all kinds of things, and I think that really helps when I’m bringing in compositions. He’s so curious and he’s always studying. Harish and I met when I was at the Thelonious Monk Institute. He’s the instigator of the band: from the moment we start he’s already on a whole different path. When we do master classes I say that Harish approaches this music as some modern form of Dixieland or something — he’s improvising and thinking about melody and many times coming out of his register.”

The music’s harmonic advancement and dark mysterious moods come across with particular beauty and power on the Vanguard bandstand. The expressionistic effects that Akinmusire wrings from his horn — half-valve and non-pitch sounds, breath sounds, all part of the “extremes” he mentions above — root him in a trumpet legacy that extends beyond the expected post-bop influences to include early jazz as well as the avant-garde.

There’s a poignant story behind the opener, “Maurice and Michael (sorry I didn’t say hello)”: “I wrote it when I was artist-in-residence at the Monterey Jazz Festival. The place where you stay to compose is so beautiful. You’re by yourself overlooking the ocean, and if you look over to the right when it’s clear you can see San Francisco and Oakland. One day it hit me — wow, I have friends that are still over there in the hood who would never even know anything like this exists, so close by. Not long after that, I was on the BART home and I saw someone I grew up with named Maurice, who had a brother named Michael. I hadn’t seen them since high school. Maurice seemed to be on something, his eyes were red, he could barely walk, and I just couldn’t say hello. Here I am in some fancy suit with my expensive headphones and Moscot glasses, and this guy I grew up with looks like he’s homeless. It really affected me. I went through so many thoughts: ‘Do I think that I’m better?’ ‘Who am I to feel ashamed at whatever success I think I have?’”

The other titles are similarly evocative: The “enclosure” in “Piano Sketch (beyond enclosure)” refers to the fact that the music is written without bar lines. “Diver song” is the composer imagining “a diver with scuba equipment going down really slowly — this is kind of the soundtrack to that.” “A moment in between the rest (to curve an ache)” deals with “right when something stops, that moment right after. It’s like if you have two moments and right in between the moments you pause, that’s what that song would be. Having an ache, then stopping it and curving it — imagine that was a sound. That’s what this song is about.”

One could reasonably ask if the band felt pressure that week at the Vanguard, following in the footsteps of such giants. “I don’t feel pressure when I’m playing with my band,” Akinmusire responds. “Maybe it has something to do with me not living in New York, feeling more like a normal person, just a regular guy who plays trumpet. And also the older I get, the more of a spiritual thing it becomes for me. I really believe more than ever that I’m not the one playing, so the pressure is kinda off me. My job is to do all the work necessary to allow the spirit to come through me.”

http://www.bluenote.com/artists/ambrose-akinmusire/a-rift-in-decorum-live-at-the-village-vanguar

 

This pre-view track sounds great. I also bought a ticket for his quartet's Bimhuis concert this November.

[danasgoodstuff]

Is it me, or does the usage of 'rift' above seem quite strange to anyone else here?

[JSngry]

In a dictionary sense, yes. In a "poetic" sense, not really. "Decorum" would in this sense be an agreed on beginning/middle/end, and a rift in that would mean hey, not so fast here, let's look at it another way.