Become a member and get exclusive access to articles, live sessions and more!
Start Your Free Trial

JazzTimes

Home > Ambrose Akinmusire

Reviews

It’s become relatively common for jazz artists to incorporate elements of hip-hop into their work, but the fourth studio outing by trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire is one of the more provocative of these mash-up projects to have emerged thus far. Rapper Kool A.D. (late of the alt-hip-hop aggregation Das Racist) juxtaposes a neo-Burroughsian mélange of surrealism, … Read More "Ambrose Akinmusire: Origami Harvest (Blue Note)"
To access this content, you must purchase JazzTimes Membership.

Ambrose Akinmusire: Origami Harvest (Blue Note)

It’s become relatively common for jazz artists to incorporate elements of hip-hop into their work, but the fourth studio outing by trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire is one of the more provocative of these mash-up projects to have emerged thus far. Rapper Kool A.D. (late of the alt-hip-hop aggregation Das Racist) juxtaposes a neo-Burroughsian mélange of surrealism, … Read More “Ambrose Akinmusire: Origami Harvest (Blue Note)”

To access this content, you must purchase JazzTimes Membership.

Ambrose Akinmusire: A Rift in Decorum: Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note)

Like many live jazz albums, A Rift in Decorum amplifies Ambrose Akinmusire’s best qualities (his beautiful, penetrating trumpet sound and postbop melodies) as well as his worst (his proneness to being too hip for the room). It’s hard to say which is more powerful. But given that the album stretches over two discs, Akinmusire’s excesses … Read More “Ambrose Akinmusire: A Rift in Decorum: Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note)”

To access this content, you must purchase JazzTimes Membership.

Walter Smith III: Still Casual

Tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III assembles a stellar cast of collaborators here, all of whom he has played with in various constellations: Taylor Eigsti (piano), Matthew Stevens (guitar), Harish Raghavan (bass), Kendrick Scott (drums) and guest Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet), who appears on three tracks. Focused on composition, the album consists of 10 originals written with … Read More “Walter Smith III: Still Casual”

To access this content, you must purchase JazzTimes Membership.

Ambrose Akinmusire: the imagined savior is far easier to paint

Self-seriousness lurks in the piano and trumpet delicacies that begin the imagined savior is far easier to paint; all that’s missing is ECM’s famous five-second silence. By album’s end, though, it has developed into an early candidate for the best of 2014. Unabashedly arty, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire’s third album is his “composer” record. He doesn’t … Read More “Ambrose Akinmusire: the imagined savior is far easier to paint”

To access this content, you must purchase JazzTimes Membership.

Live Review: The 20th Annual Thelonious Monk Competition

The least-known persons on the stage on Oct. 29 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood were a trio of young trumpet players: Jean Gaze from Haiti, Ambrose Akinmusire from Oakland and Michael Rodriguez from New York City. Surrounding them on the program was an instantly recognizable array of glittering music world figures reaching from Al … Read More “Live Review: The 20th Annual Thelonious Monk Competition”

To access this content, you must purchase JazzTimes Membership.

JazzTimes Newsletter

America's jazz resource, delivered to your inbox

Sign Up for Our Free Newsletter