By S. Rotan Hale
Chief Adjuah, formerly known as Christian Scott, is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer and a musical genius who although relatively unknown to the area has been nominated for six Grammys throughout his stellar career that continues to soar.
He and his six-member group blessed the sizable and unsuspecting crowd that gathered at the Jefferson Center Friday, Feb. 7 through a one-set show that set a new bar for jazz standards at the venue.
The group flowed through a mesmerizing set of selections that ranged from hard driving jazzy hip-hop to melodically celestial renditions of several original compositions, he refers to as “stretch music” and a few reconstructed standards.
Adjuah’s music is an amalgamation of heritage rich styles wrapped in layers of percussive Afrocentric rhythms that transcend genre like his opening tunes that were deep churning improvisational fusion topped with Adjuah’s hip-hop verses delivered with a monotone style that spoke of love.
Adjuah is a brilliant and ultra progressive artist with a deep perspective backed by his expansive cultural knowledge that clearly influences his music.
“We like to refer to the beginning of our set as a re-evaluation because this music has just crossed into its second century mainly because it’s high time that we re-evaluate some things,” he said speaking to the audience early in the set.
He went on to explain his aversion to people classifying his music as jazz.
“Many people that are aware of my work know that we don’t prefer the term jazz, because it’s essentially a racial slur that originated from certain New Orleans news sources that referred to the music as jack-ass music – j-a-s-s,” … which later turned into the term jazz and we’ve been saying it for a hundred years,” he explained.
As a New Orleans native Adjuah is the product of a lineage of jazz greats from that region as his uncle saxophonist Donald Harrison, a modern-day jazz giant in his own right.
Adjuah’s band consisted of Ryoma Takenaga, bass; Joe Dyson, drums; flutist Elena Pinderhughes; Andrew Renfroe, guitar; and multi-instrumentalist Morgan Guerin who played keyboard, saxophone, lite percussion and an electronic wind instrument (EWI) throughout what was not just a show but an experience in indigenous vibrations and a menagerie of soul stirring rhythms that had many in the crowd spellbound.
During the performance Adjuah led the band as he switched between several uniquely unconventional instruments that he designed himself. Among them was a modified flugelhorn and a hand-held harp-like instrument known as the Adjuah Bow.
Takenaga’s sub-level ramblings on the acoustic bass and Joe Dyson’s well-defined cadence provided solid rhythmic undercurrents for each intoxicating selection throughout the entire performance.
Among the selections played was Quinevere, one of the most engaging songs of the night that opened with Takenaga’s thumping through a bold and haunting bass line followed by Adjuah deep and luring drawls on his modified horn mysteriously leading the audience delicately into another world.
Renfroe’s spicy meanderings on the guitar added incredible flavor as Pinderhughes’ lilting flute danced on top of the melody as the group collectively explored and flexed the laws of sonic creativity.
All things considered, it was an amazing night for not only jazz enthusiasts but all who delightfully indulged in Chief Adjuah’s intoxicating musical journey that was truly a celebration of sound.
