Jaimie Branch
Focus Jazz Trumpet
Elegant resistance
The trumpet player Jaimie Branch combines roughness and tenderness so individually and elaborately in her quartet that one searches in vain for anything comparable. It is already exciting enough, the way this remarkably intense improviser treats her instrument, at once totally grounded, yet capable of spectacular flights of fancy. But her three Afro-American partners on double bass, cello and percussion are far more than just sidemen.
They always supply Branch with the ideal conditions for her to work in, but at the same time they also create vital and filigree sound spaces for themselves where anything appears possible. The music’s energy changes mercurially between minimalistic structures and punk, between song form and collective improvisation. And then the bandleader sings as well. Pretty explicit texts in an elegant voice that makes little attempt to be artistic. Totally personal. A truly congenial line-up, then, that delights its audience with unforgettable music.
Performers
Jaimie Branch trumpet
Lester St. Louis violoncello
Jason Ajemian bass
Chad Taylor drums
Programme
»Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise«
Series
Jazz at the Elbphilharmonie
Spotlight
Focus Jazz Trumpet