Jaimie Branch - Fly or Die Live (2021)

Jaimie Branch
Fly or Die Live
2021 - International Anthem Recording Company: IARC0041
https://www.intlanthem.com/releases-3/jaimie-branch-fly-or-die-live
https://www.intlanthem.com/news/jaimie-branch-fly-or-die-live-double-lp
https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/fly-or-die-live



* Jaimie Branch : trumpet, vocals, vibraslap
* Lester St. Louis : cello, vocals, tiny cymbal
* Jason Ajemian : bass, vocals, egg shakers
* Chad Taylor : drums, vocals, mbira

https://www.jaimiebranch.com/
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lester-st-louis-mn0003406095
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jason-ajemian-mn0000182374
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/chad-taylor-mn0002551488
Jaimie Branch (1983 - 2022)

https://www.freejazzblog.org/2022/08/jaimie-branch-1983-2022.html
Reviews


By Tim Niland
https://jazzandblues.blogspot.com/2021/05/jamie-branch-fly-or-die-live.html

Trumpeter and vocalist Jamie Branch is as brash and focused as ever on this
live album recorded in Switzerland in January of 2020, willing to speak truth
to power about corrupt politicians and social vampires alike in song while
playing blazing lines of brass. The music stretches out ambitiously, as she
engages with her colleagues, Lester St. Louis on cello, vocals and tiny cymbal,
Jason Ajemian on bass, vocals and egg shakers and Chad Taylor on drums, vocals
and mbira. The epic "Prayer for Amerikkka pt. 1 & 2" is Mingus-like in its
scope, using spoken word and singing, lights out trumpet soloing and graceful
collective improvisation to paint a picture in words and music of the state of
the United States, a snapshot of a divided and fractured nation just before the
pandemic laid everything to waste. The band is very tight, after a long time
touring and recording together, they can follow any lead, shift gears at the
slightest signal. Because of her outspoken nature, people may forget the
protean power of Branch's trumpet playing, but you can't miss it here, as the
band moves from way out free improvisation to in the pocket groove. She gets
the band and even the reluctant crowd to sing along with the finale, "Love
Song" punctuated by some powerful trumpet and spoken asides, that even leaves
some audience members singing the refrain as they exit the concert. Branch is a
self-assertive and take no prisoners kind of musician, she reminds me of
another International Anthem labelmate, Angel Bat Dawid, whose singular refusal
to back down in the face of roadblocks has hade her into a similarly singular
musician. Jamie Branch and her band lay it all on the line on this concert and
it is a brave and powerful performance, trusting in themselves and the nature
of their music to carry them through.

--

By Martin Schray
https://www.freejazzblog.org/2021/09/jaimie-branch-fly-or-die-live.html

By Imran Mirza
https://ukvibe.org/album_reviews/jaimie-branch-2/

By Kevin Whitlock
https://www.jazzwise.com/review/jaimie-branch-fly-or-die-live

By Simon Adams
https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2021/08/22/jaimie-branch-fly-or-die-live/

By Bill Meyer
https://chicagoreader.com/music/fly-or-die-live-catches-jaimie-branchs-quartet-reaching-new-heights/

Guy Peters (nl)
https://www.enola.be/2021/06/25/jaimie-branch-fly-or-die-live/

Dick Hovenga (nl)
https://writteninmusic.com/albumrecensie/jaimie-branch-fly-or-die-live/