Ambrose Akinmusire

[mrjazzman]

I'm going to preface my comments by saying I'm 74 yrs old and grew up on Bird, Monk, Trane, Diz, Miles, Dex, Newk, Burrell, Smith, Blakey etc. I've tried to listen to this young fellow (own 5 of his cd's) but, after listenening to sound samples of Owl Song, which all sound alike, I'm almost at the point of saying this is not jazz, starting to sound like sophisticated elevator music to me. Just one opinion

[Rabshakeh]

I really enjoyed When the Heart Emerges Glistening. Otherwise I've always thought he's a talented trumpeter that tends to self-sabotage with weak ideas.

[Eric]

Certainly he has received much critical acclaim.  Based on that, I too bought several of his CDs.  I am also older (62) but love and am open to all types of music.  His music just doesn't engage with me.

[jazzbo]

I have to admit that is true for me too. My favorite of his that I have heard is the live 2 cd set. I really really enjoy the playing of the trio backing him, his playing not so much.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I saw him live and almost left the show early. It was pretty boring to be honest.

[Rooster_Ties]

I saw him live back in 2013 here in DC, and I couldn’t connect with the music much at all.

I was hesitant to be too critical then, because it sounded very much like something I ought to have liked — but I just couldn’t wrap my ears around much of any of it.  I’ve never owned any of his CD’s.

[Niko]

I saw him live a few times and enjoyed most of it quite a bit, I'm especially fond of the quartet with Sam Harris (and Sam Harris in general, check out his album on Freshsound!)... Owl Song I didn't like either though, similar idea to Wadada Leo Smith's Lebroba which I find much stronger

[kh1958]

Disagreement here. Owl is not elevator music; it is simply quiet music. I liked it.

As for live, I saw him twice at the Big Ears Festival a couple years ago, once with Kris Davis, which was okay, and once leading his own band, with Linda Oh, which I quite liked.

[mjazzg]

I thought this rang bells...

 

 

[BFrank]

I've seen him a number of times, too. Can't say he lit up the stage, but I don't have any problems with him. This show at Big Ears in 2022, with just him and Andrew Cyrille was pretty interesting.