SOUNDTRACK: CHRISTIAN SCOTT aTUNDE ADJUAH-Tiny Desk Concert #477 (October 9, 2015).
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah and his septet play what he calls stretch music: “the particular type of jazz fusion he’s up to: something more seamless than a simple collision of genre signifiers.”
They note that even his appearance stretches traditional jazz: “You may note that he showed up in a Joy Division sleeveless T-shirt and gold chain.” It’s sleek and clearly modern, awash in guitar riffs, but also bold and emotionally naked.
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah (not sure how to abbreviate that) is a trumpeter and he can hit some loud powerful and long –held notes. It’s funny that when he bends over the trumpet grows quieter—those ic really are direction-based.
For the first song “TWIN” he does some impressive soloing over a simple and cool beat—piano and delicate guitar riffs (there’s also an upright bass and drummer). After his lengthy solo there’s a flute solo that also works perfectly (if less dramatically) with the background music. (Christian plays tambourine during her solo). He says that this song is about being a twin. His brother, Kyle Scott is a film director and for whom Christians scores the music. Christian also explains that he comes from an African-American and Native-American background and that this song has rhythms as a sort of history of his family that touches on Mali, Senegal Gambia and The Ivory Coast and makes its way to the Caribbean, Cuba and into New Orleans.
He’s pleased to play the Tiny Desk Concert for an audience that appreciates “Music that has nutritional value.”
For the second song, “West of the West” he brings on a young alto-saxophonist who plays with his drummer in a different band. The song opens with a rocking electric guitar solo and then the jazzy band kicks in behind it. The instrumental features a couple of solos by the saxophonist, the pianist and the bassist.
“K.K.P.D.” is a dramatic song for which he gives a lengthy back story. Many years ago in his home of New Orleans, he was stopped by New Orleans police late at night for no reason other than to harass and intimidate him. he was coming back from a gig. He resisted and was in a serious situation and was seriously threatened—the story is long and very affecting, especially given how articulate (I know, terrible word, but true) and calm he is about retelling this horrifying story. His pride almost made him do something ill-advised, but instead he channeled that pent-up frustration into a piece of music whose long-form title is “Ku Klux Police Department.”
He adds that we see things on TV about inner cities or the ninth ward and we believe them to be true. Like that the neighborhood is happy that the police are clearing out the youth there. We begin to think that the narrative is true, although the people who live there can tell you otherwise. Despite the title and the origin, the is song is designed to reach a consensus to move forward –not to build derision or hate. He says that we have to start working on that now, because if it doesn’t start now then our children will continue to inherit this situation.
It opens with a noisy guitar wash and fast drums. It’s quite noisy and chaotic although it resolves very nicely into an almost sweet piano-based song with slow horns. The middle of the song ramps up with some intense soloing from Christian. I love how that segues into a very different section with an electronic drum and delicate piano. Chritsian’s next solo is much more optimistic. The final section is just wonderfully catchy.
When he introduces the band, he points out just how young some of his newest members are: Drummer Corey Fonville (another new member) used a djembe as a bass drum, and also brought a MIDI pad so he could emulate the sound of a drum machine; Lawrence Fields, piano; Kris Funn, bass; Dominic Minix , guitar (21 years old); Braxton Cook, saxophone (24 years-old) and Elena Pinderhughes, flute: 20 years old!
I don’t listen to a ton of jazz, but I really liked this Tiny Desk Concert a lot.
[READ: July-October 2016] The David Foster Wallace Reader
I’ve had this book since Sarah bought it for me for Christmas in 2014. I haven’t been in a huge hurry to read it because I have read almost everything in it already. And some of that I have even read recently. But this summer I decided to read some of my bigger books, so this was a good time as any.
One of the fascinating things about reading this book is the excerpting in the fiction section. I have never really read excerpts from DFWs longer books before. And once you decontextualize the parts, you can really appreciate them for themselves rather than as a means to the end of the story. This is especially true of the excerpts from Broom of the System and Infinite Jest. But also just reading some of these sections as a short story makes for an interesting experience.
It was also very interesting to read the non-fiction all together like that. These pieces come from difference anthologies, but they have thematic similarities So, placing them together like that allows for really comparing the stories.
And of course, the selling point for most DFW fans is the teaching materials in the center of the book–an opportunity to look into the man’s mind at work shaping younger minds.
I have written about virtually everything in this book already (title links refer back to previous posts), so mostly these are thoughts about the pieces themselves and not a part of a whole. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 