Akinmusire

Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire has proven himself an artist of rare ability and wide-ranging aesthetic interests. Now with his bold new double-album A Rift in Decorum: Live at the Village Vanguard, Akinmusire reached a new pinnacle as he and his quartet - Sam Harris (piano), Harish Raghavan (bass) & Justin Brown (drums) - join a distinguished strata of jazz artists who've made live recordings in the hallowed New York City venue.

“Playing solo has just been something that’s been in the back of my head,” he says. The appeal, he adds, is the beauty that lives in sitting with oneself — and that being enough.” “I think when you have a lot of technique and you can play almost everything that’s in your head, it’s hard to commit to beauty. It’s hard to not do the flashy stuff,” says Akinmusire. “So I wanted to do a solo project that is just about sitting in the center of the beauty. The center of self, which is, for me, beauty.”

“Playing solo has just been something that’s been in the back of my head,” he says. The appeal, he adds, is the beauty that lives in sitting with oneself — and that being enough.” “I think when you have a lot of technique and you can play almost everything that’s in your head, it’s hard to commit to beauty. It’s hard to not do the flashy stuff,” says Akinmusire. “So I wanted to do a solo project that is just about sitting in the center of the beauty. The center of self, which is, for me, beauty.”

“Playing solo has just been something that’s been in the back of my head,” he says. The appeal, he adds, is the beauty that lives in sitting with oneself — and that being enough.” “I think when you have a lot of technique and you can play almost everything that’s in your head, it’s hard to commit to beauty. It’s hard to not do the flashy stuff,” says Akinmusire. “So I wanted to do a solo project that is just about sitting in the center of the beauty. The center of self, which is, for me, beauty.”

Ambrose Akinmusire follows his acclaimed, genre-busting best-of-2018 manifesto "Origami Harvest" with another visionary statement on his new album "on the tender spot of every calloused moment," which finds the trumpeter examining blackness on an uncompromising set of modern jazz laced with a heavy feeling of the blues. The album presents 11 new compositions by Akinmusire and features his quartet with pianist Sam Harris, bassist Harish Raghavan, and drummer Justin Brown with guest vocals from Genevieve Artadi and Jesus Diaz.