Jazz Beat: Ambrose Akinmusire plays the Blue Room on Thursday

Listen to the last track on Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-winning To Pimp a Butterfly and you’ll hear a trumpet ascend and then soar under the song’s rap. That’s Ambrose Akinmusire, a rising star of the Blue Note label. Akinmusire has won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition and the Doris Duke Impact Award, which recognizes artists for their work to advance jazz, dance and theater. His energetic playing challenges you to follow as he explores fresh and unexpected paths. His 2014 album, The Imagined Savior Is Far Easier to Paint, spreads itself across a fascinating musical canvas of voices, strings and trumpet, sometimes mellow, sometimes jarring, but always fascinating. Thursday night, Akinmusire brings that energy and imagination to the Blue Room.