Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet Seizes the Evening at Village Vanguard

Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet
Village Vangaurd
New York, NY
May 26, 2026

May 26, 2026 was a momentous day in jazz history.

The jazz community celebrated the centennial of one of its most revered figures, Miles Davis. At the same time, the music world was still raw following the previous day's news of the death of Sonny Rollins, one of the last living links to jazz's post-bop golden age. Both events sparked tributes, analyses, and think-pieces about the music, influence, and impact created by those two titans.

At the same time, jazz's present and future had no issue asserting itself above the day's fray of backward-looking ruminations. Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire—solidly in his prime and a towering figure himself within the jazz idiom of the 2020's—began a week-long residency at New York's hallowed Village Vanguard on May 26th. During the Tuesday 8pm set, Akinmusire led a mighty quartet that filled the space with a consuming, exhilarating sound that wrenched any focus from the culture's past to concentrate firmly on the here and now. In his remarks to the audience, which were scant, Akinmusire did not mention Davis, Rollins, or any other historical figure, mentor, or frankly any other musician who was not on the stage. During the hour and fifteen minutes or so that the quartet played, everybody else was irrelevant. The session was all about immediacy, as well as the auditory and cerebral connection between the band and the audience, and nobody and nothing else.

Sam Harris (piano), Harish Raghavan (bass), and Justin Brown (drums) joined Akinmusire, and they served a higher function than merely backing up the star trumpeter or perhaps providing a canvas for improvisation. They drove the set forward. They did not simply take turns noodling around. Indeed, this quartet has been playing together for the better part of two decades and has made the Vanguard a regular stop. They in fact have previously released a live album recorded at the Vanguard, the spectacular A Rift in Decorum: Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note Records =, 2017). This set built on that previous experience, the group in 2026 generally making better use of space and texture.

The set was intensely rhythmic. Akinmusire grew up in Oakland, California, but has acknowledged the influences of his family's heritage. Akinmusire's father immigrated to the United States from Nigeria, and his mother grew up in small-town Mississippi. As such, Akinmusire was brought up immersed in both African and African-American musical traditions, of which rhythm and tempo are important components.

That said, Akinmusire is of course a jazz musician, and absolutely fierce on the trumpet. The quartet straddled many styles without going too deep into any one sphere. They leaned avant-garde, but were still accessible. They flirted with chamber music without being too sleepy. Akinmusire's trumpet was often bold and powerful, but at the same time frequently transitioned into a mediative, almost noirish state. The crescendos were never overwhelming, and the recoils never got lost.

The set began with "Owl Song," the title track from Akinmusire's celebrated 2023 release. Harris's piano largely replaced Bill Frisell's guitar, featured on the album version, out front with Akinmusire. The soulful performance leaned into the bluesy elements of the song. In a demonstration of the delightful spontaneity of live jazz, the band did not plan on "Owl Song" being the opener; the selection was at the request of an audience member in the men's room—later on, Akinmusire even began another song before ultimately changing his mind and calling another; a concertgoer at the Sphere would probably not experience either occurrence.

Harris' piano matched Akinmusire in virtuosity, and when the focus shifted to his bandmates, Akinmusire took to sitting on the stage, cross-legged, as if in quiet contemplation of the force he has helped create. On the rich ballad "Yessss," from On The Tender Spot Of Every Calloused Moment (Blue Note Records, 2020), Harris was quiet, yet the emotion of his playing seeped through the tranquility, before Akinmusire came in with a fiery improvisation.

Having played together for so long, the band has obvious chemistry. Akinmusire and Brown grew up together in Oakland, yet the rest of the members of the quartet clearly matured together musically. The Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet represent one of the most vital groups in contemporary jazz, a continuation of the music's historical lineage while confident enough to focus solely on the moment.