The Omni-American Book Club is one of Lynch’s most ambitious projects of his long and illustrious career. The album is composed and arranged by Lynch and featuring his work as soloist alongside an all-star cast of special guests including NEA Jazz Master Dave Liebman (who will be making an appearance in January 2020 for a Frost Music Live concert), GRAMMY® Award winner Dafnis Prieto, and many more.
Lynch’s latest album connects his lifelong passion for influential books that reflect diversity with his original music. For Lynch, reading is "a means to fill in the blank spaces in the map of your world,” and his research over the years to deepen the understanding of the music. The album’s title refers directly to African-American writer Albert Murray’s The Omni-Americans, which Lynch first read in high school. Alongside a strong emphasis on the work of African-American writers and writing on African-American culture, both classic and contemporary (Murray, W.E.B. DuBois, Ralph Ellison, Isabel Wilkerson, Ta-Nehisi Coates), Lynch’s reading interests range widely in the area of social consciousness and social justice, as reflected in shout outs to urban theorist Mike Davis and social activist Naomi Klein.
The music of The Omni-American Book Club represents the most realized and accomplished expression of Lynch’s vision as a composer to date. The magic is made by the stellar big band that Lynch assembled for this project.
The nine compositions that make up The Omni-American Book Club offer a panoramic view of Lynch’s world as a composer, arranger and trumpet soloist in his first big band recording as a leader. Lynch’s pieces reveal new facets of a musical omnivorousness already well documented in his four decades of being at the forefront of the jazz and Latin music scenes. His compositions show the realization of his music to the highest order, and is a testament to the vibrancy of South Florida’s musical life at one of the world’s premier music schools - The Frost School of Music.
Tying all the music together is the sound of Lynch’s trumpet. His focused and versatile facility on the instrument and expansive improvising lexicon sets him apart on the contemporary jazz landscape. His achievement in crafting an individual and recognizable voice from many influences, and utilizing that voice in many diverse playing contexts ranging from Eddie Palmieri to Phil Woods and even Prince, are reflected in his consistent presence in the jazz polls and on the lists of top trumpeters, including an award as Trumpeter Of The Year by The Jazz Journalists Association in 2017. But perhaps in the performance of his own original work one can most fully hear both the true accomplishment and the continued promise of Lynch’s work as an improvising trumpet player. Lynch stated his intentions to journalist Ted Panken for a Downbeat profile a few years ago: “...to blend everything together into something that has integrity and sounds good. Not to sound like a pastiche or shifting styles; but like someone with a lot of range and understanding.” His playing on The Omni-American Book Club is one of the most complete expressions of this laudable goal that he’s yet achieved.
