Jaimie Branch’s Fly or Die

Jaimie Branch’s debut album Fly or Die immediately put her on the map as a gifted trumpeter and composer who brings together groove, melody and experiment. ‘The album reveals itself as a colorful mosaic which never sounds overbearing and offers a couple of earworms’ (Enola), reads one of the many laudatory reviews. Fly or Die appeared in the top 10 best albums of the year in the most recent Downbeat Critics Poll.

For her eponymous band Fly or Die, Jaimie Branch selected well-known jazz musicians from Chicago including drummer Chad Taylor of Chicago Underground Duo. In Chicago, Jaimie Branch played in many different settings, from improv with William Parker and Matana Roberts to indie rock with bands such as Spoon and TV on the Radio. She was classically trained, but became enamored with the extended techniques of trumpeters such as Axel Dörner. She incorporates all of these influences in her current band.

‘Chicago-reared, NYC-based trumpeter Jaimie Branch has played with the likes of Spoon, TV on the Radio and Belle Orchestre. After 10 years of being down to jam with jazz, post-rock and doom metal groups, Branch steps out with her assured debut album, Fly or Die. The album expertly veers from sweet hooks, spacy interludes and free-jazz exploration, Branch’s trumpet sparring with sawed cello, crackling rhythms and even bits of acoustic guitar. Her horn veers everywhere from Cootie Williams-style growls to space-echo ambience’ (Rolling Stone).