Californian Ambrose Akinmusire has this simple formula to describe Owl Song, his seventh solo album (and the second to be released this year): “This is my reaction to the information that assail me. » A way, we understand, of evacuating the overflow of bad news which abounds at the end of 2023, by emptying the notes around the notes to give ballast to its superb melodic lines. The trumpeter brings together the visionary guitarist Bill Frisell and the drummer Herlin Riley to produce around forty peaceful minutes of original compositions approaching the jazz of chamber music. Akinmusire takes the light breath of Miles Davis from Kind of Blue (1959) while Frisell plays the goldsmiths throughout the album. Almost erased with his brooms on Owl Song 1 at the start of the album, Riley swings with a more embodied cadence on the hypnotic Flux Fuelingsthen shines his cymbals on this Grace in a suspended state. An album to help us relax during the holiday season.
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