Irvin Mayfield Sextet: Live In Minneapolis

January 1, 2010 from APM - He's an official cultural ambassador of his hometown New Orleans, where he founded and plays in two different celebrated bands. But recently, trumpeter Irvin Mayfield has been spending time a good deal of time in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. He was recently named the first artistic director of jazz for the Minnesota Orchestra, and he spent his New Year's Eve performing in Minneapolis with his sextet for Toast Of The Nation.

On a night where the temperature barely crested 0 degrees Fahrenheit, he frequently egged on an already raucous crowd at the Dakota Jazz Club, both with prodigious trumpet technique and zealous entreaties. (There were noisemakers in abundance, though one doubts the audience was actually "butt-nekkid," as Mayfield claimed for the radio.) His group tore through jazz standards and then some, in a style that had a foot in modernized bebop and another in classic down-home New Orleans groove. And there was singing of all sorts. The whole affair seemed designed to urge Mayfield's second home not to forget about its downriver cousin — and judging from its cries, the audience didn't seem like it would for some time.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122139002&sc=nl&cc=jn-20100103


Biography
Irvin Mayfield, the City of New Orleans appointed and state and federally recognized Cultural Ambassador to the City of New Orleans, is the latest in a long line of New Orleans trumpeters. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1977, Mayfield has quickly established himself as one of the most decorated and recorded jazz musicians of his generation. His music, which draws from all aspects of New Orleans life and culture, re-imagines unique New Orleans styles and blends them into an authentic 21st century New Orleans sound. In honoring his late father, a victim of drowning during Hurricane Katrina, Mayfield has dedicated himself to promoting, now more than ever, the unique New Orleans jazz music heritage that lives today.

Mayfield founded the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Inc., the only major jazz performance institution of its kind in the city, in late 2002. Today he serves as Artistic Director for the non-profit institution, through which he envisions delivering year-round, rich and meaningful jazz presentations for the New Orleans region. In January 2003, he founded the Institute of Jazz Culture at Dillard University. In September 2003, Mayfield was unanimously appointed to the post of Cultural Ambassador for the City of New Orleans by city officials. Since then, he has served as a musician who not only embodies and represents the great New Orleans jazz legacy, but also as a cultural spokesperson for New Orleans.

In October 2003, Mayfield debuted Strange Fruit, featuring the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and the Dillard University Concert Choir. This composition was the first commission of its kind made possible by a Historically Black College and University, marking a significant historic moment. Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra made history again on November 17, 2005 when they symbolically reopened New Orleans with the performance of another historic piece – composed by Mayfield – titled All the Saints. This commission was the first of its kind by an Episcopal diocese, and it served New Orleans as the first major cultural event inside the city post Katrina.

Mayfield's numerous collaborative ventures have made him a sought after composer for special events, such as the New Orleans Museum of Art's commissioned musical tribute (Mayfield's first-ever commission) to renowned African American artist Gordon Parks. This piece, The Half-Past Autumn Suite was later recorded with Parks, Wynton Marsalis and the Irvin Mayfield Quintet and released by Basin Street Records. He co-founded the New Orleans-flavored Latin jazz band Los Hombres Calientes. He also leads his own band, the Irvin Mayfield Quintet.

As a Basin Street Records artist, Mayfield has released 10 albums, and has appeared on or produced dozens of other records. His latest recordings, released in 2005 by Basin Street Records, are Strange Fruit, with NOJO and the Dillard University Choir, and Volume 5: Carnival a Los Hombres Calientes recording. Los Hombres Calientes' previous album, Volume 4: Voodoo Dance (2003) was nominated for a Billboard Latin Music Award. Volume Three: New Congo Square, the group's 2001 release, was nominated for a Grammy. In 2000, Volume One was awarded Billboard's Latin Music Award for Contemporary Latin Jazz Album of the Year. Outside of the Basin Street Label, Mayfield has two other releases on the "Half Note" label and in 2005 recorded "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" on the Higher Ground CD released by Blue Note Records for Musician relief.
http://www.myspace.com/irvinmayfield2




Mayfield remained steadfast in his effort to bring New Orleans culture back to its feet. He participated as advisory member to the Lt. Governor's Louisiana Cultural Rebirth Committee, and as committee member to Mayor C. Ray Nagin's Bring New Orleans Back culture sub-committee, and also took up a new post as the artist in residence at Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans immediately upon returning to New Orleans. Currently, Mayfield serves as a board member of the Police and Justice Foundation and the New Orleans Public Library Foundation, is the incoming chairman of the New Orleans Public Library Board, and is co-chairman of the re-election campaign committee for District Attorney Eddie Jordan.