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Monterey Jazz Festival 2019
Monterey Jazz Festival Monterey County Fairgrounds Monterey, CA September 27-19, 2019 It sometimes happens at the historic Monterey Jazz festival that the “main" and most memorable takeaways of a program occur away from the main arena stage. And so it went at the 62nd annual festival in September--at least to these ears, belonging to a Monterey festival veteran. While the arena roster banked on the high profile and varying artistic merits of Diana ...
read moreAmbrose Akinmusire, Dairo Miyamoto and Other Great New Releases
This week we'll go through a heap of outstanding new releases, ranging from tributes to seminal albums like Soul Station by Eli Degibri and the Far East Suite by Pierre Bertrand, to new releases by master pianists like Keith Jarrett, Brad Mehldau (in an unreleased duo with Charlie Haden!), Aaron Parks and Simone Graziano. Seasond avant-veterans on ECM (Andrew Cyrille with Leo Smith and Bill Frisell) and vociferous rising stars on Blue Note (Ambrose Akinmusire and James Francies).
read moreAmbrose Akinmusire: A Rift in Decorum: Live at the Village Vanguard
Live albums can be an iffy proposition. Not so with this double CD set recorded live at New York's legendary Village Vanguard. California born Akinmusire has worked with the same band for a number of years and their communication is apparent. Pianist Sam Harris, bassist Harish Raghavan and drummer Justin Brown supply the support and the embellishment appropriate and compliment the trumpet master throughout. In a program that rides an emotional rollercoaster, Akinmusire offers 16 original compositions over ...
read moreAmbrose Akinmusire: A Rift in Decorum: Live at the Village Vanguard
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 ...
read moreAmbrose Akinmusire at SFJAZZ
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 ...
read moreThe Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet at the Library of Congress
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 jny: Oakland-born trumpet player appeared on that thoroughly enjoyable album alongside no less than ...
read moreBray Jazz Festival 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 ...
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