Russell Gunn

Ethnomusicology Vol. 4 - Live In Atlanta

Tracks

Album Details

Russell Gunn is a two-time Grammy Award-nominated trumpeter, composer and bandleader, and one of the most acclaimed trumpeters of his generation. This new release is the fourth and final installment with his winning outfit ethnomusicology, with which he’s toured Canada, the USA, Israel and Europe to excellent notices and increasingly large audiences. Far from being merely a live sampling of Vols 1. to 3, this recording features five lengthy musical selections, with three never before recorded by the group.”Shiva” is from his Atlantic debut (Ethnomusicology, Vol.1) and “Lyne’s Joint” is from his Justin Time debut (Vol 2). The album
will be supported by a tour of selected cities including (at press time) Boston, New York, Oakland, Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City and Los Angeles. If one were attempting to design a prototype for the quintessential contemporary musician in the African-American tradition, Russell Gunn would be an ideal model.
A certified member of the hip-hop generation by age (born in ’71) and geography (the hardcore ghetto of East St. Louis), Russell’s early aspirations in the world of rap music took precedence over the trumpet. At 16, while waiting for his hip-hop career to take off, his dedication to jazz took shape. Rather than abandoning jazz, he applied its energy, spirit and fiercely proud intellectual rage to the jazz idiom, creating a synthesis that is truly contemporary and singular, exemplified by his groundbreaking group, Ethnomusicology. Gunn weaves together elements of Cuban, Brazilian, African, D.C.’s “Go-Go” music, and Hip-Hop into an adventurously progressive jazz style that pays tribute to its tradition while also extending the form.