Ambrose Akinmusire kicks off a weeklong Asia tour at Blue Note Tokyo. Hurray for the Riff Raff is at GRRRL Camp in Nebraska. Cécile McLorin Salvant is in Souillac, France. Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion perform Rectangles and Circumstance at Newport Classical Music Fest. Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway play Grey Fox Bluegrass Fest and join Old Crow Medicine Show in Boston. Yasmin Williams tours New England with The Crane Wives.
Ambrose Akinmusire and his Quartet—Sam Harris on piano, Harish Raghavan on bass, and Justin Brown on drums—kick off a weeklong tour of Asia with the first of two consecutive nights of two sets each at the Blue Note Tokyo on Sunday. Akinmusire was named Trumpeter of the Year in the DownBeat Critics Poll, and his Nonesuch debut album, Owl Song, featuring Bill Frisell and Herlin Riley, made the Jazz Albums of the Year list. "A quiet rush of gorgeous sound where space, tone and beauty come together in one of the most impactful albums of 2023," says DownBeat. "This is one of the most interesting recordings to come along in a very long time by one of the most interesting artists of our time."
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Hurray for the Riff Raff performs at Falconwood Park in Bellevue, Nebraska, on Saturday as part of GRRRL Camp. They were in New York City this week for two special events: a GRAMMY Museum / Americana Music Association talk with Hanif Abdurraqib celebrating their acclaimed new album, The Past Is Still Alive, at National Sawdust in Brooklyn on Wednesday and a free outdoor show in Battery Park City's Nelson A. Rockefeller Park with the Statue of Liberty behind them.
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Cécile McLorin Salvant and her Quartet—Sullivan Fortner, piano; Yasushi Nakamura, percussion; Kyle Poole, drums—perform at the Souillac en Jazz festival in Souillac, France, on Saturday. Salvant was named Female Vocalist of the Year in the DownBeat Critics Poll, and her latest album, Mélusine, made the Jazz Albums of the Year list. "The massively creative vocalist delivers a tour de force in several languages recounting the legend of Mélusine," the magazine says.
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Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion perform music from their new album, Rectangles and Circumstance, at The Colony House in Newport, Rhode Island, on Sunday morning as part of the Newport Classical Music Festival. For the album, Shaw and Sō's Eric Cha-Beach and Adam Sliwinski "sourced a group of nineteenth-century poems that shaped its expressive mode [and] ended up using verses by Christina Rosetti, Emily Brontë, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, and William Blake," says Sliwinski. "The lyrics on this album by members of the band contain wordplay that explores the same profound feelings explored by Blake and Dickinson.” Shaw's original score to Ken Burns's upcoming documentary LEONARDO da VINCI, due October 25, features performances by Sō, Attacca Quartet, and Roomful of Teeth.
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Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, fresh off their eight nominations for the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards, head to Walsh Farm in Oak Hill, New York, for the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, where they close out the High Meadow Stage tonight, and to Roadrunner in Boston on Sunday to perform as special guests of Old Crow Medicine Show. Tuttle and the band are up for the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards for Entertainer, Vocal Group, Instrumental Group, and Album of the Year for City of Gold (which won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album); Tuttle for Female Vocalist and Guitar Player of the Year; and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes for Fiddle Player and New Artist of the Year.
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Guitarist and composer Yasmin Williams is in New England all weekend, performing as special guest of The Crane Wives at Higher Ground Ballroom in South Burlington, Vermont, tonight, State Theatre in Portland on Saturday, and Royale in Boston on Sunday.
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