The Sound Carved from Legend from Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah (formerly Christian Scott) continues his mission to unify people via their musical and cultural voices by tearing down the sonic and social constructs that separate them. As a newly ascended Chieftain, Adjuah is deeply committed to turning identity politics, as they are used in music, into a means of connection rather than an exclusionary force. Seeking to excavate and update hidden histories in sound by displaying a sonic tapestry that illuminates the har-melodic movements found within rhythm. Adjuah explains, “In its inception, Recalling was built as a map to challenge previously held misconceptions about some cultures of music, to codify a new folkloric tradition and begin the work of creating a national set of rhythms; rooted in the synergy between West African, African Diaspora/Caribbean rhythms and their marriage to rhythmic templates found in trap music, alt-rock, and other modern forms. It is time we created a sound that dispels singular narratives of entire peoples and looks to finally represent the wealth of narratives found throughout our human experience: an experience that shows that all forms of expression in sound are valid, as are all people.” The goal is to connect people in one understanding rather than dividing them by definition. The Sound Carved from Legend bridges past and future by marrying the folkloric styles, ceremonial and ritual practice of the Black Indian culture of New Orleans with his own innovation; Stretch Music.
The result, a spellbinding exhibition of Afro-New Orleanian and West African narratives where music, dance, and cultures collide in a riveting new approach to Stretch Music. A visceral and dynamic audio-visual experience that trespasses traditional genre tenets, asserts new modes of communication and, ultimately, conjures another way of hearing; another sound: “Recalling”.
Both his earlier albums, The Emancipation Procrastination and Ancestral Recall, were nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 61st and 62nd Grammy® Awards marking Adjuah’s second and third nominations. The recordings also garnered the chief a Downbeat Critics Poll Rising Star Composer, Rising Star Trumpet, Trumpeter, and Electric/Jazz-Rock/Contemporary Group/Artist wins from the publication. Stereogum named The Centennial Trilogy Best Jazz Album of the 2010’s. So far in 2020, Chief Adjuah was announced as the Jazz Journalist Association’s Trumpeter of the Year as well as recipient of the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts. Additionally, the Stretch Music recording was accompanied by a groundbreaking app by the same name and for which Adjuah won JAZZFM’s 2015 Innovator/Innovation of the Year honor. The chief also recently starred in Billboard and 1800 Tequila’s Refined Players Series and is the subject of PBS American Masters’ Masters in the Making set for release this year.
Label & Press | Ropeadope Records