Artist in Residence Program _ Monterey Jazz Festival

The Monterey Jazz Festival’s Artist-In-Residence works year-round with young musicians in performances and clinics at our Next Generation Jazz Festival, Summer Jazz Camp, and at the Monterey Jazz Festival.

With the program now in its 9th year, the Artist-In-Residence for 2012 will be the award-winning trumpeter, Ambrose Akinmusire. He will join jazz luminaries and past Artists-In-Residence Branford Marsalis, Regina Carter, Kurt Elling, Terence Blanchard, Christian McBride, Wynton Marsalis and members of Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Dianne Reeves, and Joshua Redman in this important and vital role.

In 2012, Ambrose Akinmusire will act as a clinician, performer, and competition judge during the Next Generation Jazz Festival, March 30 - April 1; as a mentor and clinician at the Festival’s Summer Jazz Camp, June 11-22, and will appear at the 55th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, September 21-23.

Mr. Akinmusire was a member of Monterey Jazz Festival’s California High School All-Star Band in 1999 and 2000. He will be a guest soloist with his former band, now called the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, on Sunday, September 23, 2012.

About Ambrose Akinmusire

Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, winner of the 2007 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition and the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition, recently made his major-label debut on Blue Note Records.

The Oakland, California-born trumpeter attended Berkeley High School and was a member of the 1999 and 2000 Monterey Jazz Festival’s High School All-Star Band. While still in the Berkeley High School Ensemble, he caught the attention of the visiting saxophonist Steve Coleman, who later hired Ambrose as a member of his Five Elements band for extensive European tour. Akinmusire was just 19 years old.

After graduating from Berkeley High School in 2000, he moved to New York to begin a scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Vincent Penzerella, Dick Oatts, Lew Soloff, and Laurie Frink. He performed publicly with Lonnie Plaxico, Stefon Harris, Josh Roseman, Vijay Iyer, Charlie Persip, the Mingus Big Band, and the San Francisco Jazz Collective, to name a few.

Ambrose returned to the West Coast in 2005 to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and simultaneously attended the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. His teachers include Terence Blanchard, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Billy Childs and Gary Grant. He has worked with such artists as Jimmy Heath, Jason Moran, Hal Crook, Bob Hurst, Terri Lyne Carrington, Ron Carter, Jason Moran, Wallace Roney, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter. After graduation in 2007, Ambrose won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition and the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition in the space of one week.

After making appearances on recordings by Steve Coleman, Vijay Iyer, Alan Pasqua, Walter Smith III, Josh Roseman, Esperanza Spalding, Aaron Parks, and more in the 2000s, Ambrose made his major-label debut in 2011, releasing When the Heart Emerges Glistening on Blue Note Records. Pop Matters said that the record “…should send shivers up every jazz fan’s spine” and Jazzwise Magazine said “…Akimusire is already showing signs of being a major creative figure in the making.” The Los Angeles Times wrote “…he seems practically predestined for a breakout in 2011.”

Monterey Jazz Festival Artists-In-Residence:

2012: Ambrose Akinmusire
2011: Joshua Redman
2010: Dianne Reeves
2009: Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
2008: Christian McBride
2007: Terence Blanchard
2006: Kurt Elling
2005: Branford Marsalis
2004: Regina Carter

www.montereyjazzfestival.org/

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