Ambrose Akinmusire

Jazz trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire – born on May 1, 1982, in Oakland, California - shot to fame in 2007 after winning two of the most prestigious jazz competitions in the business: the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition and the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition. The following year he released his debut album, Prelude... to Cora, which featured eight original tracks penned by Ambrose Akinmusire with one by Walter Smith III and the standard “Stablemates” by Benny Golson. After a relocation to New York, he began working with some of the biggest names in the jazz world including Aaron Parks, Jason Moran, and Vijay Iyer. Spotted by Bruce Lundvall of Blue Note Records, Ambrose Akinmusire signed a record deal in 2011 and released When the Heart Emerges Glistening. His third album, The Imagined Savior Is Far Easier to Paint, followed in 2014 and featured collaborations with Becca Stevens, Theo Bleckmann, and Cold Specks. That same year he was awarded the North Sea Jazz Festival Paul Acket Award and worked with Kendrick Lamar on the track “Mortal Man,” which featured on Lamar’s 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly. In 2018, Ambrose Akinmusire released his fifth studio album, Origami Harvest. In 2020, he issued On the Tender Spot of Every Calloused Moment, his final album for Blue Note. He had a busy year in 2023 with the release of two albums – Beauty Is Enough and Owl Song (featuring Bill Frisell) – and his work on the soundtrack to the cable TV series Blindspotting.

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