Trumpeter and 28-year-old Oakland-native Ambrose Akinmusire (pronounced ah-kin-MOO-sir-ee) has

Ambrose Akinmusire and the Amoeba crew

delivered nothing less than a manifesto with his Blue Note debut When The Heart Emerges Glistening. It is a personal statement of such clarity and vision that it’s bound to turn heads around towards this startlingly fresh young talent.
 
By the time the lone standard “What’s New?” arrives, 11 tracks into trumpeter-composer Ambrose Akinmusire’s tour de force the song’s title has become a rhetorical question. The unneeded answer: Everything. Akinmusire
 
The Los Angeles Times recently named Akinmusire one of their 2011 “Faces to Watch” and we have to agree! He tells here us how Amoeba Music helped shape his musical development.
 

Vocalist Catherine Russell is a native New Yorker born to musical royalty. Her father, the late Luis Russell, was a pioneering pianist/composer/bandleader and Louis Armstrong's long-time sidekick. Her mother, Carline Ray, is a bassist, guitarist, and vocalist, who has performed with Mary Lou Williams and International Sweethearts of Rhythm. Catherine’s professional life began early. After graduating with honors from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, she embarked upon a rich journey backing artists like Carrie Smith, Steely Dan, David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon, Jackson Browne, Michael Feinstein, and Rosanne Cash.

Catherine has been on various compilations, including the soundtrack album for the award winning HBO show Boardwalk Empire, NPR’s The New Jazz Divas, Putumayo Presents Rhythm & Blues, and Walkin’ and Swingin’ from the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival.

Edison Award-winning trumpeter/composer/producer/bandleader/all-around-handome-and-hip guy Christian Scott graced the Amoeba tent at the Monterey Jazz Festival Saturday at 9pm to sign his latest album, the compelling new double album, Christian aTunde Adjuah, which is an inspired and provocative two-CD collection that spans a range of beyond-jazz influences as he continues to make strides into uncharted jazz territory. With Scott’s trumpet at the heart of most of the tunes, the album features reflective ballads, light and dreamy soundscapes, guitar-edged and rock-inflected cookers, trumpet ecstasies as well as clarion calls and anguished wails.

Scott describes what he plays on Christian aTunde Adjuah as “stretch music,” much like he introduced on his 2010 album, Yesterday You Said Tomorrow. Scott likens his “stretch music” to a musical version of a cubist painter’s rendering of an object. In cubism, objects are taken apart, analyzed, and reassembled in an abstracted form that depicts the object from a multitude of perspectives. This gives a more global viewing of what the object is comprised of—a more clear representation of what the object (or in Scott's case, sentiment through sound) is.

See MJF talent coordinator Bennett Jackson interview Christian Scott and Scott’s glowing review of Amoeba Music!

It's Sunday, the final day of the 2012 Monterey Jazz Festival, and we have another action-packed day of all-star signings at the Mini-Amoeba tent! We've had a few schedule changed, so please make note of our new, revised schedule and join us for the fun!


Sunday:
Tierney Sutton -- 1:30pm
Ambrose Akinmusire --  2:30pm
Esperanza Spalding -- 4:45pm
Kyle Eastwood -- 7:30pm
Meklit Hadero -- 9:30pm

It's a been busy day here at the Mini-Amoeba tent! Check out what pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph,  jazz guitarist Mimi Fox, and Mingo Fishtrap said about their favorite record store, Amoeba Music.
 

Robert Randolph...don't make fun of his wallet.


Mimi Fox, guitar goddess, can't get enough Amoeba.


Mingo Fishtrap get menacing.