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Jazz Articles about Ambrose Akinmusire
Tigran Hamasyan: Stand Art
by Jerome Wilson
Many jazz pianists start out by playing tunes from the standard pop and jazz repertoires before tackling their own compositions. Tigran Hamasyan has gone in the opposite direction. He has been recording original works and traditional Armenian songs since 2005. Now, on his eleventh album, he finally gets around to playing American standards. Hamasyan leads a trio here with Matt Brewer on bass and Justin Brown on drums, occasionally helped out by tenor saxophonists Mark Turner and Joshua ...
Continue ReadingTrefoil: Ambrose Akinmusire, Kris Davis, and Gerald Cleaver at The Bop Stop
by C. Andrew Hovan
Trefoil: Ambrose Akinmusire, Kris Davis, and Gerald Cleaver Bop Stop Cleveland, Ohio March 20, 2022 With a distinguished resume that includes his 2007 wins in both the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition and the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire still finds himself traveling under the radar of the general jazz listening public. Grammy nominations and appearances with a wide range of artists from Joni Mitchell to Kendrick Lamar have served ...
Continue ReadingJen Shyu and Jade Tongue: Zero Grasses: Ritual for The Losses
by Hrayr Attarian
Calling vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu brilliant, and her style unique, underestimates both her ingenuity as a composer and the distinctiveness of her oeuvre. Shyu has forged her own path in creative music with an intrepid spirit and restless innovation. Her eighth release as a leader is the intensely personal Zero Grasses: Ritual For The Losses. A cycle of songs which is equally about bereavement and injustice as it is about solace and hope, its message transcends the individual, reaching ...
Continue ReadingTrumpet Master Ambrose Akinmusire - Broad Vision
by Russell Perry
Known as a constantly searching and forward-looking musician, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire won the Thelonious Monk (now Herbie Hancock) International Jazz Competition in 2007 at 27 years old. His first album, Prelude to Cora, announced a bright new talent willing to honor multiple strains of influences from hip-hop to classical with stops at post-bop, funk, and free jazz. His periodic highly-regarded solo efforts have been complemented by a string of excellent sideman collaborations. Recent work from exciting young trumpeter Ambrose Akimusire ...
Continue ReadingRoscoe Mitchell Quartet: Come and See What There Is to See
by Mark Corroto
In a recent interview, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire related the story of when he first visited a jazz club; as an eighth grader in Oakland, he experienced a performance by The Art Ensemble Of Chicago. What a spectacle it must have been and, of course, he would have witnessed the maestro himself, Roscoe Mitchell. Decades later Akinmusire, some 42 years Mitchell's junior, dedicated a song, “Mr. Roscoe (Consider The Simultaneous)," on his release On The Tender Spot Of Every ...
Continue ReadingAmbrose Akinmusire: On The Tender Spot Of Every Calloused Moment
by Chris May
Trumpeter and composer Ambrose Akinmusire rings the changes admirably from album to album. On The Tender Spot Of Every Calloused Moment is the most stripped down of his Blue Note outings (it is his fifth album for the label). It is made with a quartet. There is no second horn. The sound is ECM-like in its monastic simplicity. At fifty minutes it is also Akinmusire's most concise work to date. And while substantial portions of The Imagined Savior Is Far ...
Continue ReadingAmbrose Akinmusire, Omri Zeigele, Adam Caine & More
by Maurice Hogue
When a highly respected saxophonist like David Binney recommends a young up-and-coming musician, I tend to pay attention. Los Angeles trombonist Logan Kane and his Nonet live up to the tip on his new Nope, Science, one of the featured new releases hitting this week. Also of great interest are albums from the much-admired trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, Swiss alto player Omri Ziegele with Han Bennink in tow, guitarist Adam Caine, drummer Mike Pride with saxophonist Jonathan Moritz, and another duo, ...
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