jaimie branch: FLY or DIE

Ars Nova Workshop is thrilled to present the irreverent and exploratory trumpeter jaimie branch and her stunning quartet Fly or Die, in a live performance at the storied RUBA Club, Philadelphia, on Saturday, March 19, 2022.

jaimie branch and Fly or Die’s latest album, FLY or DIE LIVE (International Anthem, 2021), arrived in the midst of the pandemic era, reminding all of us what we’d lost as live performances were cancelled across the globe. Fly or Die’s unpredictability and audacious daring as an ensemble can be most fully appreciated in a live setting, making their return to Philly for this performance all the more vital and exciting.

jaimie branch is a Brooklyn-based improviser, composer and trumpeter whose work is primarily focused on expanding the sonic and technical limitations of the trumpet in free and improvised musics. Since branch’s debut as leader with the release of FLY or DIE in 2017, the Fly or Die quartet has evolved into one of the most exhilarating and tightrope-walking units in modern jazz. Featuring bassist Jason Ajemian, cellist Lester St. Louis and drummer Chad Taylor, the band is cosmic and confrontational, soaring and searing, able to grapple with controversial political ideas and transcend them into a gripping spiritual realm.

“At its peak, jaimie branch’s trumpet playing has the feeling of a prelingual shriek, a cry out into the distance that intuits no response.”
— The Guardian

The serrated and visceral approach branch takes to her trumpet playing translates in vivid ways to the group dynamic of Fly or Die, which is malleable, raucous and nimble, shifting gears en masse at the prompting of any member to follow the mood of the moment. The band’s third album, FLY or DIE LIVE, captures that spontaneous spirit as well as the aggressive protestations of branch’s socially-conscious lyrics and vocals.