A product of the academic age in jazz, Akinmusire’s creative life has been intertwined with the Hancock institute nearly from the start. “I don’t want any part of this.” So he moved to Los Angeles, where the jazz scene is smaller and more spread out, and did some hibernating. She told him she’d made everyone in the dressing room stop talking during his set; she’d loved his playing. They started spending afternoons together, taking rides in his Honda Civic to pick up Italian food or playing music at her place. Akinmusire began to see a future for himself that might exist both in and outside of jazz.

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Persons: Hancock, Steve Coleman’s, Fats Navarro, Lee Morgan, Terence Blanchard, “, Herbie Hancock, Akinmusire, ambassadorship, Glistening ”, ”, Mitchell, he’d, she’d, ” Akinmusire, ” Mitchell, Joni, Michelle Mercer’s, Joni Mitchell’s, Dylan ”, Friedrich Nietzsche Organizations: Monk Institute of Jazz, “, Honda Civic Locations: New York, Los Angeles, “ Jericho