Edison Award winning trumpeter-composer-producer-bandleader Christian Scott stands tall among a handful of talented young jazz artists who are expanding their artistic vision beyond the strict confines of the genre’s tradition. Throughout his career, Scott has been an intrepid explorer, from his Grammy nominated debut Rewind That to his genre stretching last album Yesterday You Said Tomorrow. Scott ups the ante on his compelling new double album, Christian aTunde Adjuah, an inspired and provocative two-CD, 23-track collection that spans a range of beyond-jazz influences as he continues to make strides into uncharted jazz territory.
With Scott’s trumpet at the heart of most of the tunes, the album features reflective ballads, light and dreamy soundscapes, guitar-edged and rock-inflected cookers, trumpet ecstasies as well as clarion calls and anguished wails. Scott’s band consists of guitarist Matthew Stevens, drummer Jamire Williams, bassist Kristopher Keith Funn and pianist Lawrence Fields (Fields’ piano sound is often spiced for effect by using paper on the instrument’s strings), with guests including tenor saxophonist Kenneth Whalum III, alto saxophonist Louis Fouche IIII and trombonist Corey King.
A tour de force masterwork, Christian aTunde Adjuah opens a wide window on Scott’s present, as well as his past, and his auspicious creative future. In his liners, Scott writes that the listener will hear the stretching of jazz on the album: “That is what I hope younger people will be able to take away from it as well—the idea that innovation should never be regarded as a problem in artistic practice, that one should always be aware of what has come before, and finally, that criticisms shouldn’t evoke paralysis, [but] should inspire action.”
