Closing his performance at Yoshi’s Oakland on Tuesday night, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire shared one gripe about life as a celebrated wunderkind of the jazz scene with his hometown crowd. “People shouldn’t be shocked when I tell them I’m from Oakland.”
It was one of several moments throughout the evening that gave the buttoned-up club the intimate feeling of a homecoming. Uncles, teachers, church members, and old Berkeley High friends helped fill every seat for the 28-year-old’s first Bay Area show since signing with Blue Note Records in June. They gave an enthusiastic applause when he said it’s good to be home, volunteered details on the relationship status of drummer and fellow Berkeley High alumnus Justin Brown (single), and inspired confessions about song titles (“Tear-Stained Suicide Manifesto,” for instance? “Let me explain,” Akinmusire said. “It’s not about me”).
