For his debut on Nonesuch Records, the trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire rails against the onslaught of the information age, bidding in his own words to ‘create something that’s oriented around open space’. To that end he has enlisted the guitarist Bill Frisell, whose records Akinmusire treasured in his youth, and the drummer Herlin Riley who is cherished by the bandleader for his ‘commitment to the beauty you can find in the groove’.
On the album opener ‘Owl Song 1’ it is Akinmusire’s trumpet which pushes forth warily, carving furrows into the ground or wafting up into the aether. Meanwhile the six-string of Frisell glides around bends and turns wafts into plumes as Riley on the drums creates the possibility of movement in space, like a groundsman raking up leaves or a curler sweeping a rock to decrease friction.
Owl Song continues on in that same vein with Riley stalking out the space, Frisell tracing its borders and the bandleader Akinmusire sending up smoke signals until ‘Owl Song 2’ brings everything down to a simmering mellow. Herlin’s lilting grooves hit with a little more swing and funk on his own feature ‘Mr. Riley’ as the trio splinter for a couple of duets, before this nagging and gently explorative work draws to a close on ‘Henya’ through fanfares of horn and Frisell’s gently spiralling figures.
