Hailed as “the future of the trumpet” by Wynton Marsalis, and “one to watch” by Rolling Stone, Keyon Harrold is one of the world’s most sought-after young trumpeters.
He makes his Scottish debut on Saturday 14th July at George Square Spiegeltent.
After a decade or so as the session and touring go-to for some of the jazz and pop world’s biggest names (Beyoncé, Gregory Porter, Common), Keyon, finally earned a quasi-star turn as the voice of Miles Davis in last year’s Don Cheadle-helmed biopic “Miles Ahead”, for which he won a Grammy Award.
His emotionally-charged debut album – “The Mugician” – inspired by the police shooting in his home town of Ferguson, Missouri, is “a sonic blend of past, present and future” (Downbeat) and features his crack young band in music that can be sweeping and cinematic, dense with contemporary beats, and true to the jazz tradition?
Keyon said : “I want anything I do to be singable – I don’t like to purposefully go over somebody’s head … a better term for myself would be ‘social music activist.’ I have a platform to say something to people who may think they’re on the right path – who may not realize that racism is still a problem, injustice is still a problem.”
The haunting “Stay This Way” takes the now-ubiquitous marriage of hip-hop and jazz to richly textured new heights, as Bilal and Big K.R.I.T. join Harrold over a beautiful refrain.
Tickets are available online at www.edinburghjazzfestival.com and via Hub Tickets on 0131 473 2000, Festival Theatre on 0131 529 6000 or in person.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
