Irvin Mayfield courtesy of Hooper Management

From a city rich in its heritage of jazz in general and jazz trumpet in particular, New Orleans native Irvin Mayfield has managed to attain a favorite son reputation despite his mere 30 years. A protégé of Wynton Marsalis and founder of the popular Los Hombres Caliente, more recently Mayfield has served his city and state as cultural ambassador, a responsibility he has taken even farther in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. His own father one of Katrina’s victims, Mayfield has taken his musical message of rebirth to venues worldwide, including a recent big band appearance at Minnesota Orchestra Hall. On March 26-28, Mayfield returns to downtown Minneapolis, this time with his sextet, for three nights of more intimate, but equally powerful, modern sounds from Crescent City.

Irvin Mayfield was born and raised in New Orleans, where he had his first opportunities to play jazz with the Algiers Brass Band. At about age 14, he started to get serious about music, playing with school bands that took him around the world on tours. In addition to formal music education in school, much of his growth was due to his interactions with older musicians on the city scene and listening to the great trumpeters, from Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis, to Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, and Booker Little. He also cites the influences of Charles Mingus and Phineas Newborn, and contemporary masters, mentor Wynton Marsalis, Terrence Blanchard, Nicholas Payton, and Brad Mehldau.

For much of the past decade, Mayfield was the driving force behind Los Hombres Calientes, an ensemble he co-founded with percussionist Bill Summers in 1998. Along with drummer Jason Marsalis, Los Hombres sought to bring to life their vision of a New Orleans-based, Latin jazz ensemble, a band that would play "caliente" (hot), exploring African and Afro-based rhythms (what Summers calls "African classical music"), fused with acoustic modern jazz. From the heart of New Orleans, Los Hombres meshed the street rhythms of Congo Square with montuno and clavé. Their self-titled debut CD ( 1998, Basin Street Records) hit the Top 25 on Billboard’s jazz chart in 1999; they received Billboard’s Latin Music Award for Contemporary Latin Jazz Album of the Year in 2000, and were named by Down Beat as “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition.”

Carlos Henriquez

In addition to his heavy performance schedule, Mayfield serves as the executive director and founder of Dillard University's Institute of Jazz Culture and as the founder and leader of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. The only major jazz performance entity of its kind in New Orleans, the NOJO, along with the Dillard University Concert Choir, debuted Mayfield’s “Strange Fruit” in 2003, and then “re-opened” the city post-Katrina with a performance of Mayfield’s “All Saints” in late 2005. The recent performance of Mayfield and the NOJO at Orchestra Hall included his composition “May His Soul Rest in Peace," dedicated to his father and other victims of Katrina. And his dedication goes well beyond music, as Mayfield serves on the Board of the city's Arts Council, Police and Justice Foundation, the First Responders Fund and the New Orleans Public Library Foundation. “I do what I do out of gratitude,” Mayfield told the Star Tribune. “If I can give back even 5 percent of what the city has given me, then that is what I will do."

Next week, Irvin Mayfield joins mentor Ellis Marsalis in releasing a duo album of ballads and standards, the first release on Basin Street Records since Katrina. But first, he’ll be in Minneapolis at the Dakota Jazz Club, with a hot sextet including trumpeter/vocalist Leon "Chocolate" Brown, trombonist Vince Gardner, pianist Dave Torkanowsky, bassist Carlos Henriquez, and drummer Jaz Sawyer. 

The Irvin Mayfield Sextet performs at the Dakota Jazz Club, 1010 Nicollet Mall, in downtown Minneapolis on March 26-28, two sets each night at 7 and 9:30 pm; www.dakotacooks.com

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