Ambrose Akinmusire’s first four studio albums were musically restless, deploying hip-hop textures, sometimes jagged classical strings and rapped passages which intensely responded to racist violence. His extraordinary gigs were, meanwhile, starker and more pregnant with mystery, the trumpeter’s nightly devoted search drawing you in. Meditative fifth LP On The Tender Spot Of Every Calloused Moment (2020) brought these versions of Akinmusire closer, and 2023’s self-released solo recording, Beauty Is Enough, signalled a full switch into the trumpeter’s essential, unvarnished self. He heads further in with Owl Song, his first trio album, and first recording with Bill Frisell (a regular live collaborator) and Wynton Marsalis’ drummer Herlin Riley.

‘Owl Song 1’ is all about Akinmusire’s bruised, yearning tone, Frisell and Riley softly shaping the surrounding air. ‘Owl Song 2’ is a similarly delicate Latin dance, Akinmusire’s burred, piercing cry slowly sinking into the song. ‘Mr. Frisell’ sees the guitarist merge into Akinmusire’s wail, before the trumpeter breaks down and investigates his own breath.

This album uncovers a whole, tender world in the act of playing his instrument and its emotional vocabulary for him, having stripped away its distracting power. Owl Song explores his fundamental sound, squeezing out notes with a mournful, broken beauty as unmistakable as Miles’ muted, masculine soul.

‘Mr. Riley’ diverts into the drummer’s native New Orleans groove, hinting at second-line swing. “There it is!” Riley exclaims. An old, profoundly lovely Akinmusire ballad, ‘Henya’, is revived at the close. Here Frisell’s blues-bent, kindly, singing strokes and Riley’s hushed brushwork support the trumpet’s gradual climb into being. There’s no climax on a record prizing subtlety, mood and close musical response. Akinmusire simply simmers down to a finger-snap heartbeat, which stops.