Chief Adjuah (formerly Christian Scott)

“Ushers in new era in jazz.”– NPR

“The architect of a commercially-viable fusion.” – JazzTimes

Hailing from a storied New Orleans musical dynasty, trumpeter Chief Adjuah has fully embraced his world-shaking heritage. Formerly known as Christian Scott, he’s a masterly improviser, stylistically venturesome composer, and far-seeing conceptualist whose improvisation-laced sound is deeply inspired by West African forms. The grandson of legendary Big Chief Donald Harrison Sr., a leader of the Mardi Gras Indians whose knowledge of Black New Orleans was unrivaled, and nephew of alto saxophone jazz innovator and NEA Jazz Master Big Chief Donald Harrison, Jr., Chief Adjuah is steeped in jazz history and tradition. Over the past decade he’s explored astonishingly beautiful new realms of African-inspired sound, what he calls “stretch music,” while also designing and playing several ground-breaking new horns. In the New Orleans tradition, he approaches jazz as inextricably bound to a capacious continuum of social music, a sound and sensibility that has attracted artists such as Prince, Thom Yorke, McCoy Tyner, Marcus Miller, Eddie Palmieri, and Mos Def, who’ve all featured him on projects. In addition to six Grammy Award nominations, he’s a two-time Edison Award winner, the recipient of 2016’s JazzFM Innovator/Innovation of the year Award, and the 2020 Jazz Journalists Association trumpeter of the year, among many other honors. As a bandleader he’s sought out and showcased some of the music’s most exciting and talented young players, like on his 2015 album featuring the Berkeley-reared flutist and vocalist, Stretch Music (Introducing Elena Pinderhughes). The full scope of his ambitions became clear in 2017 with the release of three albums, collectively titled The Centennial Trilogy. Created in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the first jazz recordings the tryptic of Ruler Rebel, Diaspora, and The Emancipation Procrastination offered a cogent and penetrating socio-political analysis set to persuasively commanding compositions executed with virtuosity and elan.