AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE: PORTER
W/ 30-PIECE ORCHESTRA & SPECIAL GUESTS
Twenty years into his professional career, Oakland-reared trumpet star Ambrose Akinmusire pays tribute to the heroes of his youth -- the legendary Bay Area musicians who mentored and shaped him. "Porter" -- named for the late Robert Porter, his first jazz trumpet teacher -- is an ambitious new work for 30-piece orchestra and a special quartet that Akinmusire has assembled for this very personal tribute to his most formative influences. As a youth, he was taken under the wing of "Mr. Porter," as he calls him, along with jazz innovators like drummer Donald Bailey, saxophonists Sonny Simmons and Bishop Norman Williams, trumpeter Khalil Shaheed, bassist Herbie Lewis, and pianist Ed Kelly. They became father figures, friends, and musical guides to Akinmusire, who learned the ropes while playing with them. He has since come under the wing of international jazz figures like Wayne Shorter and Jack DeJohnette. But Akinmusire sets his departed Bay Area mentors on equal footing. With "Porter," he seeks to "activate" them, he says, so that their genius flows anew - straight through his young quartet and out into the SFJAZZ audience.
~~~~~~~~~
To the jazz world, Ambrose Akinmusire's ascension from young Oakland-born trumpeter at Berkeley High School to one of the most important voices in jazz seemed shockingly brief. In truth, the 34-year-old's trajectory has been a linear progression, starting in earnest with a touring opportunity from influential saxophonist and composer Steve Coleman while still in high school, and built on a foundation of study at the Manhattan School of Music and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at USC with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Terence Blanchard. After decamping to New York, Akinmusire built his résumé as a sideman with the likes of Vijay Iyer and Aaron Parks, and in 2007, won both the prestigious Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition and the star-making Thelonious Monk International Trumpet Competition before releasing his debut as a leader, Prelude... to Cora. Since then, the trumpeter has been a whirlwind of activity, releasing his critically lauded 2011 Blue Note debut When the Heart Emerges Glistening and 2014's follow-up The Imagined Savior is Far Easier to Paint, and contributing to albums by Esperanza Spalding, Roy Hargrove, and Jack DeJohnette. Most recently, Akinmusire appeared on rapper Kendrick Lamar's wildly innovative To Pimp a Butterfly, and been named one of the inaugural recipients of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Impact Awards. He returns with his telepathic quartet including pianist Sam Harris, bassist Harish Raghavan, and drummer Justin Brown.
show less
W/ 30-PIECE ORCHESTRA & SPECIAL GUESTS
Twenty years into his professional career, Oakland-reared trumpet star Ambrose Akinmusire pays tribute to the heroes of his youth -- the legendary Bay Area musicians who mentored and shaped him. "Porter" -- named for the late Robert Porter, his first jazz trumpet teacher -- is an ambitious new work for 30-piece orchestra and a special quartet that Akinmusire has assembled for this very personal tribute to his most formative influences. As a youth, he was taken under the wing of "Mr. Porter," as he calls him, along with jazz innovators like drummer Donald Bailey, saxophonists Sonny Simmons and Bishop Norman Williams, trumpeter Khalil Shaheed, bassist Herbie Lewis, and pianist Ed Kelly. They became father figures, friends, and musical guides to Akinmusire, who learned the ropes while playing with them. He has since come under the wing of international jazz figures like Wayne Shorter and Jack DeJohnette. But Akinmusire sets his departed Bay Area mentors on equal footing. With "Porter," he seeks to "activate" them, he says, so that their genius flows anew - straight through his young quartet and out into the SFJAZZ audience.
~~~~~~~~~
To the jazz world, Ambrose Akinmusire's ascension from young Oakland-born trumpeter at Berkeley High School to one of the most important voices in jazz seemed shockingly brief. In truth, the 34-year-old's trajectory has been a linear progression, starting in earnest with a touring opportunity from influential saxophonist and composer Steve Coleman while still in high school, and built on a foundation of study at the Manhattan School of Music and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at USC with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Terence Blanchard. After decamping to New York, Akinmusire built his résumé as a sideman with the likes of Vijay Iyer and Aaron Parks, and in 2007, won both the prestigious Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition and the star-making Thelonious Monk International Trumpet Competition before releasing his debut as a leader, Prelude... to Cora. Since then, the trumpeter has been a whirlwind of activity, releasing his critically lauded 2011 Blue Note debut When the Heart Emerges Glistening and 2014's follow-up The Imagined Savior is Far Easier to Paint, and contributing to albums by Esperanza Spalding, Roy Hargrove, and Jack DeJohnette. Most recently, Akinmusire appeared on rapper Kendrick Lamar's wildly innovative To Pimp a Butterfly, and been named one of the inaugural recipients of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Impact Awards. He returns with his telepathic quartet including pianist Sam Harris, bassist Harish Raghavan, and drummer Justin Brown.
AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE: PORTER
W/ 30-PIECE ORCHESTRA & SPECIAL GUESTS
Twenty years into his professional career, Oakland-reared trumpet star Ambrose Akinmusire pays tribute to the heroes of his youth -- the legendary Bay Area musicians who mentored and shaped him. "Porter" -- named for the late Robert Porter, his first jazz trumpet teacher -- is an ambitious new work for 30-piece orchestra and a special quartet that Akinmusire has assembled for this very personal tribute to his most formative influences. As a youth, he was taken under the wing of "Mr. Porter," as he calls him, along with jazz innovators like drummer Donald Bailey, saxophonists Sonny Simmons and Bishop Norman Williams, trumpeter Khalil Shaheed, bassist Herbie Lewis, and pianist Ed Kelly. They became father figures, friends, and musical guides to Akinmusire, who learned the ropes while playing with them. He has since come under the wing of international jazz figures like Wayne Shorter and Jack DeJohnette. But Akinmusire sets his departed Bay Area mentors on equal footing. With "Porter," he seeks to "activate" them, he says, so that their genius flows anew - straight through his young quartet and out into the SFJAZZ audience.
~~~~~~~~~
To the jazz world, Ambrose Akinmusire's ascension from young Oakland-born trumpeter at Berkeley High School to one of the most important voices in jazz seemed shockingly brief. In truth, the 34-year-old's trajectory has been a linear progression, starting in earnest with a touring opportunity from influential saxophonist and composer Steve Coleman while still in high school, and built on a foundation of study at the Manhattan School of Music and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at USC with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Terence Blanchard. After decamping to New York, Akinmusire built his résumé as a sideman with the likes of Vijay Iyer and Aaron Parks, and in 2007, won both the prestigious Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition and the star-making Thelonious Monk International Trumpet Competition before releasing his debut as a leader, Prelude... to Cora. Since then, the trumpeter has been a whirlwind of activity, releasing his critically lauded 2011 Blue Note debut When the Heart Emerges Glistening and 2014's follow-up The Imagined Savior is Far Easier to Paint, and contributing to albums by Esperanza Spalding, Roy Hargrove, and Jack DeJohnette. Most recently, Akinmusire appeared on rapper Kendrick Lamar's wildly innovative To Pimp a Butterfly, and been named one of the inaugural recipients of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Impact Awards. He returns with his telepathic quartet including pianist Sam Harris, bassist Harish Raghavan, and drummer Justin Brown.
read more
W/ 30-PIECE ORCHESTRA & SPECIAL GUESTS
Twenty years into his professional career, Oakland-reared trumpet star Ambrose Akinmusire pays tribute to the heroes of his youth -- the legendary Bay Area musicians who mentored and shaped him. "Porter" -- named for the late Robert Porter, his first jazz trumpet teacher -- is an ambitious new work for 30-piece orchestra and a special quartet that Akinmusire has assembled for this very personal tribute to his most formative influences. As a youth, he was taken under the wing of "Mr. Porter," as he calls him, along with jazz innovators like drummer Donald Bailey, saxophonists Sonny Simmons and Bishop Norman Williams, trumpeter Khalil Shaheed, bassist Herbie Lewis, and pianist Ed Kelly. They became father figures, friends, and musical guides to Akinmusire, who learned the ropes while playing with them. He has since come under the wing of international jazz figures like Wayne Shorter and Jack DeJohnette. But Akinmusire sets his departed Bay Area mentors on equal footing. With "Porter," he seeks to "activate" them, he says, so that their genius flows anew - straight through his young quartet and out into the SFJAZZ audience.
~~~~~~~~~
To the jazz world, Ambrose Akinmusire's ascension from young Oakland-born trumpeter at Berkeley High School to one of the most important voices in jazz seemed shockingly brief. In truth, the 34-year-old's trajectory has been a linear progression, starting in earnest with a touring opportunity from influential saxophonist and composer Steve Coleman while still in high school, and built on a foundation of study at the Manhattan School of Music and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at USC with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Terence Blanchard. After decamping to New York, Akinmusire built his résumé as a sideman with the likes of Vijay Iyer and Aaron Parks, and in 2007, won both the prestigious Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition and the star-making Thelonious Monk International Trumpet Competition before releasing his debut as a leader, Prelude... to Cora. Since then, the trumpeter has been a whirlwind of activity, releasing his critically lauded 2011 Blue Note debut When the Heart Emerges Glistening and 2014's follow-up The Imagined Savior is Far Easier to Paint, and contributing to albums by Esperanza Spalding, Roy Hargrove, and Jack DeJohnette. Most recently, Akinmusire appeared on rapper Kendrick Lamar's wildly innovative To Pimp a Butterfly, and been named one of the inaugural recipients of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Impact Awards. He returns with his telepathic quartet including pianist Sam Harris, bassist Harish Raghavan, and drummer Justin Brown.
show less
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