{"id":9213,"date":"2024-07-16T22:01:03","date_gmt":"2024-07-17T03:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=9213"},"modified":"2024-07-17T07:16:50","modified_gmt":"2024-07-17T12:16:50","slug":"trumpet-evolution-mulherkar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/trumpet-evolution-mulherkar\/","title":{"rendered":"Trumpet Evolution: Riley Mulherkar Previews his 2024 Newport Jazz Festival Leader Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In his speech to the Royal Academy on April 30, 1953, Winston Churchill remarked, “Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.” The key is to find ways to let history lead you without being haunted by the ghosts of the past. This concept is frequently overlooked in discussions on the shape of modern jazz music. Far too often, arbitrary battle lines are drawn, with the neo-traditionalists on one side and experimental firebrands on the other. In reality, they are not mutually exclusive camps. That understanding of the malleable relationship between the past and present makes Riley Mulherkar’s leader debut, Riley<\/em> (Westerlies, 2024), a compelling listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viewed at a high level, Riley<\/em> is a collection of inspired originals and standards. But even the longstanding compositions are personalized to reflect the trumpeter’s own thoughts as much as those of his predecessors. In breaking down these tunes to their essence – what first drew people to them so many years ago – he provides something that expresses both admiration of the past and a desire to be contemporary. Key to extracting this essence lies in Mulherkar’s focus on making each track humanized and highly intimate. Things that many studio recordings would cut out or avoid – the sound of a tapping foot or of a horn player taking a breath, are not only captured but given a central role on Riley<\/em>. It will be fascinating to see how this beating musical heart will present itself live during Mulherkar’s set at Newport on Saturday, August 3, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PostGenre: Do you remember the first time you ever learned of Newport? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Riley Mulherkar: The first time I ever learned about Newport was when I was very young. It was probably before I started playing trumpet or right around when I started. So, it would have been when I was between six and eight years old. I remember watching the Ken Burns Jazz [documentary] series. There’s a whole feature in it about the famous Duke Ellington performance at Newport [in 1956]<\/a> with Paul Gonsalves\u2019 [twenty-seven chorus] solo that made people dance like crazy. Seeing that in the Ken Burns documentary was when I first heard of the Festival. Ever since, I\u2019ve always regarded Newport as one of the most sacred events we have in jazz history and on the current scene, as well. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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