Trumpeter and composer Ambrose Akinmusire has teamed up with guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Herlin Riley for a new trio album called Owl Song.
The new recording marks Akinmusire’s debut with Nonesuch Records, after previously releasing five albums with Blue Note Records. It’s also the second record he’s released this year, following Beauty is Enough which was released in June via the artist’s own label Origami Harvest.
For Owl Song, Akinmusire enlisted two musicians he’s long admired. “I had a feeling of wanting to record with Bill from the first time we played — it was a duo performance, very little rehearsal,” Akinmusire reflects. “We just played through some of my songs, and it worked. One of Bill’s special gifts is the ability to shape a piece he’s just heard for the first time. He seems to know what the music wants before the first note. With Herlin, his commitment to beauty you can find in the groove. I never like to tell musicians too much about what I’m going for, because it should be about what these particular people bring … I said, ‘I know you’re the right person for this because of the way you approach the groove.’ And, of course, what he did is just beautiful. Also, I wanted to put people together who didn’t seem like they would go together … and it turns out they haven’t played a lot. So, it was cross-generational, cross-subgenre, cross-whatever.”
Listen to the first track below:
