AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE QUINTET @ The Jazz Gallery, 9/11/09
SEPT 11, 2009 --MANHATTAN: This is a group that, to me, plays like an acoustic jazz group should play. There is constant communication, trust and support of one another, and just an overall joyfulness in the music. When I heard them play I got the feeling they'd each just played 250 mediocre gigs with other groups and were relieved to be coming home. Except that they hadn't; they play together all the time. The rhythm section (which is also a working group in itself as the Gerald Clayton Trio) has been playing together since their college years and earlier.
The music constantly ebbs and flows, each member taking the reigns at times. Most of the time, you get the feeling that drummer Justin Brown is guiding the shape of the band. Brown is a drummer who seems capable of playing absolutely anything, and usually does. His chops are mind-blowing but never counterintuitive to the bigger musical picture.
Pianist Gerald Clayton is an incredibly versatile player (see his role in the Clayton Brothers band, which is in another universe entirely). In this setting he's the consummate supporter of soloists, and is playful within the rhythm section, but never to a point of distraction.
Joe Sanders has a huge sound on the bass, and his time is pure and confident. He uses huge amount of space at times which Brown seems to thrive on, Together the two accent with an underlying hip-hop esthetic throughout.
Alto player Logan Richardson was the only member of this group I was fairly unfamiliar with. I had heard the name but never seen him live. Richardson had a beautiful sound and interesting ideas. Both he and Ambrose had an element of surprise to their phrasing, at times even physically throwing their horns into position half a second before they'd play.
Ambrose Akinmusire is one of the most exciting voices on the trumpet today. He's single-handedly stretched the capabilities of the jazz trumpet, compiling an arsenal of his own vocabulary that tends to emulate the human voice more than any one of his trumpet predecessors. In a single cadenza Akinmusire sounds part Bach, part Strayhorn, part Dolphy, and part BB King. Just when he almost abandons all melodic integrity for a huge intervalic scream, he completes a phrase with a soulful blues line, creating a poignant and heart-wrenching combination. He seems to have a conversation with himself occasionally switching between a smooth clear tone and a simmering raspy one.
Compositionally, Akinmusire's tunes are beautiful, dark and meditative. One of the highlights was his original "Confessions to My Unborn Daughter" that scaled through many dramatic moods through the course of the tune. The quintet also featured compositions by Clayton, Brown, and Ornette Coleman, but all within the context of Akinmusire's encompassing influence. As far as modern acoustic jazz goes, this show was as good as it gets.
