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Ambrose Akinmusire


mrjazzman

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I'm sorry, as much as I've tried, I can't hear this fellows version of jazz music.  These of course are just my opinions. Seems like all his songs start off in slow motion.  It's like somber chamber music. Sometimes when I'm listening, I'm taken back to the Twilight Zone. What was I thinking, I have 5 of his titles. There should not have been a number two. Not a total loss, I like cut #10 from The Imagined Savior is Far Easier To Paint which has nothing to do with music.  Cut #10 from Prelude: To Cora  Golson Standard Stablemates with an edgy 21st century arrangement. These young people just don't want to play the classic standards, and I'm not talking about Body And Soul or Straight, No Chaser. It's a shame because technically speaking, he's brilliant.    Hey Yoshi's why do I  have to drive all the way to Healdsburgh CA(146 mi round trip) to see Ernie Watts-76 yr old master, or Rohnert Part CA to see the master Jazz Singer Diane Reeves? Can we trade Toni, Tony, Tony for Diane Reeves??????????? Anybody want this stuff? I don't want him in my collection. He's making Bird, Diz, Trane, Miles Dexter Stitt-Rollins nervous.  My two cents for now

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I’ve streamed a few of his albums, and actually saw him live here in DC back in 2013 — in a group backed with a trio that was either acoustic piano and/or Rhodes (can’t remember).

On paper, I should have loved it (I’m no stranger to some amorphous but not entirely squonkin’ jazz)…

…but it (the concert) did nothin’ for me. But I figured my ears were on backwards again or something. Wouldn’t be the first time I didn’t connect with an artist that looked like they should have been right in my wheelhouse.

So, yeah, I don’t get him either — but he’s doing something pretty different, and at least some people really dig it — so I’m all for that.

Edited by Rooster_Ties
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I am generally a fan of Akinmusire. I think he is a very talented trumpeter. The first time I heard him live was with Mark Turner, and he was very impressive. I have also collected his recordings and heard his group once. I don't always get the same satsifaction with "what he's doing" in his own music, but I hear enough when to keep me interested in following his career. A completely unexpected association is his recent recording and performing with Roscoe Mitchell, which in some ways is not too far a reach from his own thing.

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I rate him as a trumpet player. The earlier and simpler his records are, the more I like them (a point that was made to me on this board a year or two ago). I really do think he's best when he sticks to the basics and doesn't dabble with sad attempts at expansive crossover music. When The Heart Emerges is a great record. Origami Harvest, on the other hand, is, to my ears, everything wrong with modern major label jazz at the moment: serious; genre crossover in place of fresh ideas; high gloss; big, crap, concepts that lead to nothing; dreadful raps by cancelled former hipster rapper who can't get any other gigs and clearly isn't bothered; marketed squarely at the middle aged Pitchfork reader; etc. etc.

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1 hour ago, jcam_44 said:

I love Origami Harvest but I was immersed in hip hop the first 27 years of my life before ever getting into Jazz so I connected. As a reference, my true introduction to discovering jazz was Christian Scott’s album Anthem. 

I was also a big hip hop fan before becoming a jazz fan.  That's one of the main reasons I took against OH. To my ears, the hip hop elements on that record are a complete joke. The problem is jazz / hip hop cross over attempts is that you need to attract decent talent from the hip hop end too. Otherwise you just get a wretched semi-jazz mess, with C level talent.

Perhaps I am missing something.

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4 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

I was also a big hip hop fan before becoming a jazz fan.  That's one of the main reasons I took against OH. To my ears, the hip hop elements on that record are a complete joke. The problem is jazz / hip hop cross over attempts is that you need to attract decent talent from the hip hop end too. Otherwise you just get a wretched semi-jazz mess, with C level talent.

Perhaps I am missing something.

That’s interesting. I have 0 expectation when rap is added to a jazz album which allowed me to be pleasantly surprised by the rap.

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7 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

I was also a big hip hop fan before becoming a jazz fan.  That's one of the main reasons I took against OH. To my ears, the hip hop elements on that record are a complete joke. The problem is jazz / hip hop cross over attempts is that you need to attract decent talent from the hip hop end too. Otherwise you just get a wretched semi-jazz mess, with C level talent.

Perhaps I am missing something.

Have we ever had a thread about jazz/hip hop crossover music on the board or before?  Or just on jazz and hip hop in general?  My initial searches didn't turn up one... I think it'd be an interesting topic.  

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I saw him on Friday with Terri Lyne Carrington during her SFJAZZ residency. I thought he was good, but he wasn't the sole focus of the music. He shared the stage with Kris Davis, Linda May Han Oh, Elena Penderhughes (flute) and Matt Stevens on guitar

Edited by BFrank
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