Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet

For his second night of the season, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire performs with his long-term working quartet including pianist Sam Harris, bassist Harish Raghavan, and drummer Justin Brown — the group with which he made his first SFJAZZ appearance as a leader in 2011.   

To the jazz world, Akinmusire’s ascension from young Oakland-born trumpeter at Berkeley High School to one of the most important voices in jazz seemed shockingly brief. In truth, his trajectory has been a linear progression, starting in earnest with a touring opportunity from influential saxophonist and composer Steve Coleman while still in high school, and built on a foundation of study at the Manhattan School of Music and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at USC with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Terence Blanchard. After decamping to New York, Akinmusire built his résumé as a sideman with the likes of Vijay Iyer and Aaron Parks, and in 2007, won both the prestigious Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition and the star-making Thelonious Monk International Trumpet Competition.  

Since then, the trumpeter has been a whirlwind of activity but has always returned to this quartet as home base, heard most recently on 2020’s GRAMMY-nominated On the Tender Spot of Every Calloused Moment.