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Album Review

Ambrose Akinmusire: A Rift in Decorum: Live at the Village Vanguard

Read "A Rift in Decorum: Live at the Village Vanguard" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
July 4, 2017

Live recordings at the venerable Village Vanguard are immediately part of a storied tradition. Fully aware of the spirit of the place, trumpeter/composer Ambrose Akinmusire brought his longtime quartet with pianist Sam Harris, bassist Harish Raghavan and drummer Justin Brown--but he took the unusual step of performing all new, original compositions. This is his third Blue Note album as a leader, following When the Heart Emerges Glistening (2011) and the imagined savior is far easier to paint (2014). He also ...

Live Review

Ambrose Akinmusire at SFJAZZ

by Harry S. Pariser
July 3, 2017

Ambrose Akinmusire SFJAZZSan Francisco, California June 15, 2017 For trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, the band is everything: “When I'm playing with other people, it's hard to produce, because I don't have that relationship. But when I play with my band, it's endless," he told the New York Times in March 2011. Akinmusire has been playing with drummer Justin Brown since they were 14 or 15 years old; they grew up together in a rough-and-tumble ...

Live Review

The Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet at the Library of Congress

by Joseph Boselovic
May 24, 2017

The Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet The Library of Congress Washington, D.C. May 20, 2017 Although he only has two major label releases to his name, Ambrose Akinmusire has established himself as one of the most exciting trumpet players in recent years. The last appearance he made on a recording was Wolfgang Muthspiel's 2016 album Rising Grace (ECM Records). The fact that the Oakland-born trumpet player appeared on that thoroughly enjoyable album alongside no less than Brad ...

Live Review

Bray Jazz Festival 2015

by Ian Patterson
May 11, 2015

Bray Jazz Festival 2015 Various Venues Bray, Ireland May 1-3, 2015 Sunshine and squall. The sun and the clouds chased each other's tails throughout the May Bank Holiday weekend of the Bray Jazz Festival. In a way the weather mirrored the music--a pleasingly eclectic, bracing mixture--and the fortunes of the festival itself, which has been buffeted by the recent storms of funding cuts, yet remains unbowed. In spite of a reduced budget ...

Year in Review

Mark F. Turner's Best of 2014

by Mark F. Turner
January 9, 2015

Typically, when music is labeled it gets thrown into a box that limits its artistic scope. But the four letter word “jazz" in today's environment obliterates typical categorization as found in these diverse releases. Ambrose Akinmusire The imagined savior is far easier to paint (Blue Note) In his early thirties trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire is developing his own voice as one of today's brightest and most imaginative young leaders with a ...

Live Review

Festival International de Jazz de Montreal 2014

by John Kelman
July 8, 2014

Festival International de Jazz de Montréal Ambrose Akinmusire By Invitation Tigran By Invitation Tord Gustavsen Quartet / Brad Mehldau & Mark Guiliana, Mehliana June 26-July 6, 2014 There simply isn't a festival in the world like the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. Where else in the world can you find a city where, with a population of well over 1.5 million people, six square blocks are closed down for the entire duration of ...

Live Review

Ambrose Akinmusire at Dazzle, Denver, June 21, 2014

by Geoff Anderson
June 29, 2014

Ambrose Akinmusire Dazzle Denver June 21, 2014 Einstein taught us that time is a relative thing. Time can pass, or seem to pass, at different rates depending on how fast you are moving; especially in relation to an observer who is moving at a different speed. For Ambrose Akinmusire and his quintet, time is a relative thing too. And it may well be different for the observers than it is for the band. Akinmusire brought ...