One of the rare album covers that resembles their music.
All in all, it was a rather packed summer with interesting and stimulating listening experiences, some more than others, as I mentioned in previous “postcards.”
But when you look back, you immediately realize that something stands out clearly on the horizon, dominating and even slightly obscuring the rest.
Last year it was The Secret Society by Darcy James Argue; this year, without hesitation, the “pearl of the summer” for me was Ambrose Akinmusire’s Honey from Winter Stone in Perugia.
Ambrose Akinmusire
The European tour was paved by the self-titled album released in the spring: a dense and fascinating work, highly complex and thoughtful.
But the group’s live impact was completely unexpected and surprising.
Let’s start by saying that bringing to the stage a musical organism as complex as the one conceived by Akinmusire is no small feat: kudos, therefore, to the Pisa Festival, Summertime in Rome, and the “Altra Umbria Jazz” at Morlacchi in Perugia, who have combined to create a demanding production capable of appealing primarily to a rather well-informed audience (Akinmusire is a musician with a solid reputation, but certainly not blessed with marked personal charisma).
The empty half of the glass is that it is an experience difficult to replicate, especially in these troubled times, and so, alas, it will most likely remain a treasure only for those who attended the three Italian concerts.
A first glance at the Morlacchi audience immediately revealed a “special occasion audience”: the usual array of longtime enthusiasts, a qualified contingent of music critics and organizers, and finally a surprising contingent of “thirty-somethings” who had come following who knows what mysterious lead.
In addition to Akinmusire on trumpet (but he also played some electronics), his well-established quartet was present in full force, featuring Sam Harris on piano and keyboards, Reggie Washington on electric bass, and Justin Brown on drums.
In the center is Kokayi, whom for now we’ll simply call a vocalist; later on, we’ll need to fine-tune our focus to better define him. Finally, on the right are the strings of the Mivos Quartet, whom we’ve already seen in action alongside Mary Halvorson in “Belladonna.”
An extremely complex and heterogeneous team, as can be seen, which could raise fears of a precarious balance maintained only at the cost of the rigid control that has been observed on rare similar occasions.
The album’s opening track, please listen to it in its entirety…
And yet, the concert starts off with a bang, seamlessly immersing us in Ambrose’s lyrical, heartfelt, and thrilling world, but here projected onto an extraordinarily broader and richer scale of colors and tones.
A dense yet brief introduction to the theme by the leader’s dark, nuanced trumpet, and then Kokayi appears on the scene.
Forget the energetic and pressing rapper we heard in Steve Coleman’s Five Elements: here, instead, we see a fully-fledged figure, a true performer capable of leading and carrying the complex ensemble with tight, yet highly musical, and compelling verbal improvisations. Of course, the pressing and undulating rhythm of rap gradually emerges, but combined with a completely new lyrical abandon and elasticity.
Among other things, his diction remains clear and articulated even in the most intense and frenetic moments, leaning decidedly toward full, relaxed singing. Kokayi’s confidence and impetus quickly transform him into the charismatic leader who captivates the audience: after a few minutes, the ‘thirty-somethings’ are already out of control, but even a renowned scholar sitting in front of me visibly fidgets in his seat.
Kokayi, the Charismatic. Beautiful shot by Laurent Poiget
“And the leader on the bill?” you might ask. Akinmusire carves out a few sparse solo interventions, but they are always intensely expressive and authoritative: despite their brevity, they represent the compass needle that guides the journey of the diverse group.
Compared to the past, we find his familiar burnished timbre, his laconic style, his predilection for the middle registers and his nuanced sound, but now there is an urgency, and often a scratchy agility, that we didn’t know him to possess.
Memorable are the riffs, often single, repeated notes that sound like anxious and anguished signals that indelibly characterize the entire orchestral fabric, because this is precisely the dimension we are in here.
It has often been said, albeit somewhat superficially, of others, but the concentration on sound, the play on silences, and the intense essentiality suggest in this Akinmusire a spiritual child of the last and best “electric” Miles Davis.
The dynamism and extraordinary cohesion of the ensemble are greatly indebted to Sam Harris: in the past, I have greatly admired his essential and contrasting piano playing in the Ambrose quartet, but here his role is primarily that of a great weaver of the dense and varied group texture: much of this work is done behind the scenes, skillfully using keyboards and electronics, which are crucial for the iridescent and iridescent colors characteristic of Honey.
The brief, incisive, and dynamic outbursts on acoustic piano do not go unnoticed.
A relentless rhythm …
The charismatic Kookaji alone wouldn’t be enough to capture the overwhelming and engaging impact of Honey from the Winter Stone: contrasting with the refined texture of the front line is Reggie Washington’s energetic and pulsating bass (a lengthy solo is a perfect example), his choice of electric instrument used with perfect restraint.
Completing the determined and consistently prominent rhythm is Justin Brown with his pressing and imperious, clearly articulated drumming. Yet another drummer of great personality and authority dominates the stage at this year’s Morlacchi.
But Akinmusire’s creation wouldn’t have its consistently warm, vibrant, and restless tone without the Mivos quartet.
The inclusion of strings in the fabric of a jazz group has always been a critical and problematic issue, with very few successful examples rising above solemn and descriptive emphasis or a rather arid intellectualism.
Mivos doesn’t perform, or even interpret, a score on a music stand: it’s an agile and lively collective soloist, capable of perfectly timed insertions even during the ensemble’s sudden and abrupt changes of pace, holding its own with ease and lightness even in the most heated and tense ensemble passages.
In short, it’s unmistakably “American,” it has swing.
As you can see, once again it wasn’t possible to find a clip of Honey live: I made up for it with clips from the excellent album, sophisticated and based on subtle balances.
It’s a fascinating and stimulating listen, but a lot of water has passed under the bridge since its studio recording (2023). And it’s rough and tumultuous water.
Akinmusire’s music has always been a seismograph sensitive to the tremors of the world: but on the Morlacchi stage, the pen went off scale, sending us an alarmed and often anguished signal about its state.
After a truly triumphant finale, we all leave the theater with the clear awareness that the earth is shaking beneath us.
And music like Honey’s continues to remind us of this, and not just now.
And here comes Mivos, the swing quartet…
