Angélique Kidjo & Ibrahim Maalouf
Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet

With the Orchestre des Pays de Savoie

Angélique Kidjo is a powerful source of energy and joy. This whirlwind was born in 1960 in Ouidah, Benin, and has sung from a very early age when Miriam Makeba was her idol. After her tribute to Nina Simone in 2009, Angélique Kidjo returned to the Roman Theatre in 2010 to celebrate Makeba (“Mama Africa”), and then again last year to honour Celia Cruz. Here she is in symphony, accompanied by Ibrahim Maalouf’s trumpet and the Orchestre des Pays de Savoie, inspired by the legend of the Queen of Sheba. In 2016, Ibrahim Maalouf paid a glowing tribute to women, and Oum Kalthoum in particular, at Vienne. Last July, after a concert during which a piece of brass came away from his instrument, Ibrahim Maalouf said, “This evening, the ring which bound me and my trumpet together has given way!” He told the story on his Facebook page, mentioning his father and a “big decision" taken for four years’ time, on his 40^th birthday, all linked to hashtag “Freedom”. This was taken as Ibrahim Maalouf announcing his retirement! Something in him seems to have broken. At first he saw himself as a composer, or even a producer, as with Natacha Atlas. “I’ve always had a contradictory relationship with the instrument and with popularity. I’m getting increasingly fond of composing, arranging and contemplating music, giving advice, being out of the spotlight.”

Photo : © Sonia And Mauro / © dr

This young trumpet player (aged 36), an American of Nigerian heritage, has an impeccable background (from Berkeley High School to the first prize in the Thelonious Monk competition in 2007), but is much more than an impressive academic CV. He aims to create a personal world “dedicated to beauty”. Akinmusire was born and raised in Oakland, California and first attracted the attention of the saxophonist Steve Coleman, who asked him to join Five Elements. Ambrose Akinmusire was then 19. He released his first album, “Prelude (To Cora)”, and moved to New York, where he played with Vijay Iyer, Aaron Parks, Esperanza Spalding and Jason Moran. In 2010, he worked with Terri Lyne Carrington, Ron Carter, Wallace Roney, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. Everyone could see that this creative and surprising trumpet player would be a name to watch in contemporary jazz. This view was shared by the Blue Note label, who signed him up. The albums “When the Heart Emerges Glistening” and “The Imagined Savior is Far Easier to Paint” were released in 2011 and 2014. The artist draws his landscapes, visions, ideas and states of mind - pure grace! Akinmusire explores the two sides of his temperament: introspection and lyrical ebullience. In summer 2017, he released “A Rift in Decorum - Live at the Village Vanguard”, a double CD recorded at the legendary club in New York, featuring 16 new compositions in two wide-ranging sets, in defiance of gravity.

Line-up : Ambrose Akinmusire (tp), Sam Harris (p), Harish Raghavan (b), Justin Brown (dms)

Photo : © Pierrick Guidou