Akinmusire, Ambrose / Imagined Savior Is Far Easier To Paint, The
Album: Imagined Savior Is Far Easier To Paint, The   Collection:Jazz
Artist:Akinmusire, Ambrose   Added:Mar 2014
Label:Blue Note  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2014-03-21 Pull Date: 2014-05-23 Charts: Jazz
Week Ending: May 18 May 11 May 4 Apr 27 Apr 20 Apr 13 Apr 6 Mar 30
Airplays: 2 1 2 1 2 1 3 2

Recent Airplay
1. Jan 18, 2019: Traditions
Rollcall For Those Absent
4. May 15, 2014: Rebop
Asiam (Joan), The Beauty Of Dissolving Portraits, Memo (G. Learson)
2. Jan 19, 2017: No Cover, No Minimum
As We Fight (Willie Penrose)
5. May 09, 2014: No Cover, No Minimum
Our Basement (Ed)
3. May 16, 2014: No Cover, No Minimum
As We Fight (Willie Penrose)
6. May 02, 2014: No Cover, No Minimum
Memo (G. Learson)

Album Review
Fo
Reviewed 2014-03-20
AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE: The imagined savior is far easier to paint
Blue Note, 2014

POSTMODERN JAZZ – That Oakland native Ambrose Akinmusire is a fearlessly inventive trumpeter was obvious from his Blue Note debut in 2011. But he’s in his own sonic world now. It’s a land of dark shadows and piercing beams of light, trumpet lines that seem to weave through four dimensions and yet stay grounded and compelling, and a shape-shifting band that stretches out from a straightforward quintet to incorporate strings and three brilliantly oblique vocalists. This is a stunning glimpse at the eclectic, mercurial future of jazz. Bravo.

Fo’s Picks: 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11

1. 3:17 – impressionistic: unpredictable expressive trumpet over gentle waves
2. 6:25 – marching sextet: a dark vibe with abrupt, slippery tempo shifts
3. 6:29 – heartbeat pulse, mysterious indie-pop vox, strings, knotted tpt solo
4. 7:49 – rolling midtempo ballad, melancholy yet propulsive, excellent middle
5. 5:53 – relaxed postbop sextet over skittery beat; hopscotch solos
6. 4:14 – whoa: trumpet soars over string drone, gentle flute guides it along
7. 6:04 – curving Theo Bleckmann vocal; slides into the drifting aether
8. 3:55 – oblique modern: narrow-band melody, shifting drums, busy bass solo
9. 6:12 – slow, folksy atmosphere; gospel-like vocals by Cold Specks
10. 6:12 – two-keyboard dirge, child reads the names of deceased people
11. 5:14 – small trumpet & piano in silence; blooms into flowing quintet
12. 3:04 – AA not on this track: neoclassical flute & strings chug & spin
13. 16:28 – live: moody jazz moves thru several phases; rising trumpet early on, then cool sax & piano solos, trumpet thrusts skyward

[ Fo ] - 20 March 2014

Track Listing
1. Marie Christie   7. Asiam (Joan)
2. As We Fight (Willie Penrose)   8. Bubbles (John William Sublett)
3. Our Basement (Ed)   9. Ceaseless Inexhaustible Child (Cyntoia Brown)
4. Vartha   10. Rollcall For Those Absent
5. Memo (G. Learson)   11. J.E. Nilmah (Ecclesiastes 6:10)
6. The Beauty Of Dissolving Portraits   12. Inflatedbysinning
  13. Richard (Conduit)