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Matthew Ruddick

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Author of Funny Valentine, an acclaimed new biography of the jazz trumpet player and singer, Chet Baker.
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Saturday, 26 October 2013 00:00

Christian Scott – Christian aTunde Adjuah

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  Christian aTunde Adjuah is the fourth solo studio record by New Orleans trumpet player, Christian Scott, and his boldest artistic statement to date

I was lucky enough to watch Scott play live on two occasions in recent years – firstly playing with the great McCoy Tyner in Hong Kong, and then playing in Marcus Miller’s Miles Davis tribute project, Tutu Revisited. One can hear the influence of both McCoy Tyner and Miles Davis on his new album, which features guitarist Matthew Stevens and pianist Lawrence Fields.

There’s a simmering intensity to much of the music than brings to mind the early 1970’s recordings of McCoy Tyner, and a challenging complexity to some of the compositions that reminds me of the Wayne Shorter-era Miles Davis, as he moved away from jazz standards to steer jazz in a different direction.

None of this is to suggest that Christian aTunde Adjuah is rooted in the past. As Scott makes clear in the sleevenotes, new generations can add their own influences to ‘jazz’, allowing it to develop and move forward. “In my opinion,” he argues, “its freedom that actually defines Jazz and has given new life to the form”. Scott has previously covered Thom Yorke’s ‘The Eraser’, and one can hear the influence of Radiohead on some of the guitar work by Matthew Stevens, and the skittering drums of Jamire Williams. Elsewhere, there are hints of modern R’n’B (‘I Do’), hip hop beats, rock and even New Orleans funk (‘Alekbu Lan’). That may make the album sound like an eclectic mix, like a jazz version of Prince’s ‘Sign ‘o The Times’ – but it is not. Scott and his band use these influences with care, and create a unique, unified sound that they refer to as ‘stretch music’, which he describes as “genre blind”.

Scott’s influences are also political, as well as musical. ‘Fatima Aisha Rokero 400’ refers to the rape of 400 women in the Sudanese town of Rokero, ‘Away: Anuradha And The Maiti Nepal’ makes reference to human trafficking of women for the sex trade and ‘Jihad Joe’ simmers with the intensity one would expect from the title.

You can hear an excerpt of Scott’s band play ‘Jihad Joe’ live at the North Sea Jazz Club in Amsterdam on the YouTube link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSPuvDyKUrU

Christian aTunde Adjuah is also a bold statement to the extent that it is a double CD, featuring almost two hours of music. In these days of downloading, with so many forms of media trying to grab our attention, Christian Scott has delivered an album that requires you to sit down and pay attention. And for that we should be grateful.

Read 3042 times Last modified on Sunday, 27 October 2013 13:45

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