on the tender spot of every calloused moment

Ambrose Akinmusire

Released on 12/06/2020 by Blue Note Records
Main artists: Ambrose Akinmusire
Genre: Jazz

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Ambrose Akinmusire is the most intriguing jazz musician of his generation. Each one of his albums showcases the scope of his vivid imagination, a passion for creative freedom, an unfailing accuracy when playing and a deeply personal approach to music. In 2018, he released the beautiful and daring Origami Harvest which featured a string quartet and an MC and combined classical and contemporary chamber music, soul and spoken word. The trumpeter from Bay Area even occasionally freelances for Kendrick Lamar. He now returns to a more classic setting alongside his bandmates Sam Harris on piano, Harish Raghavan on bass and Justin Brown on drums. Well, at least on the face of it, as Akinmusire’s narrative approach and fidelity to Great Black Music render his work unique. For his fifth Blue Note album entitled On the Tender Spot of Every Calloused Moment, he tackles the complexity of black life in America head-on, having seen the best and the worst of his country and channels it all into these original blues compositions. It’s the same roadmap that has guided his musical journey since the beginning. “In a way, I was thinking about this as a sequel to my first record for Blue Note, I’m returning to the landmarks on my first album When the Heart Emerges Glistening.”. As with his previous work, a feeling of “otherness” and what that means in a country with such a turbulent racial history is central to his music, but here it is intensified. The well-attuned quartet are in dialogue with one another, sometimes holding themselves back. Ambrose Akinmusire, himself, is far from shy, the jazz in On the Tender Spot of Every Calloused Moment is simply imbued with an extraordinary serenity. His compositions surpass those of his contemporaries, notably Mr. Roscoe (Consider the Simultaneous), a tribute to Roscoe Mitchell, the saxophonist from the Art Ensemble of Chicago (the first band he saw on stage at just 13 years old!), whom he had met two years before recording this. Roy is another superb tribute, this time to trumpeter Roy Hargrove who passed away at the end of 2018. This one is a slower, experimental post-bop piece driven by an almost telepathic understanding between the four musicians. The final track, Hooded Procession (Read the Names Aloud), is a stripped-back song that features a solemn Fender Rodes piano playing solo. This is a fantastic album which seems to look ahead to the future as much as it reflects on the past. The last sentence of the liner notes written by saxophonist Archie Shepp says it all when it comes to Akinmusire – “This is the Cat!” © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

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on the tender spot of every calloused moment

Ambrose Akinmusire

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