In late August, at midnight at Preservation Hall, a spot as steeped in musical history as any in New Orleans, trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah gave his hometown crowd a preview of his new recording. Mr. Adjuah, who is 32 years old, grew up in the city’s Upper Ninth Ward. After six years in Harlem and a year in Los Angeles, he had moved back.
“Stretch Music,” the name of Adjuah’s recently released album (and of his independent label, distributed by Ropeadope Records), signifies a clear and urgent music that the trumpeter doesn’t call “jazz” but that nevertheless leans on some of jazz’s most elemental influences and ends up nudging the form ahead.
Here’s my review in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. Continue reading “Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah Stretches Toward a Bold Leap”
Larry Blumenfeld on jazz and other things