Christian aTunde Adjuah
Studio album by
Christian Scott
Released25 June 2012 (UK), 31 July 2012 (US)
RecordedRecorded July 20–22, 25–27, 2011
StudioSear Sound, New York City
GenreJazz
Length119:06
LabelConcord Music Group
ProducerChris Dunn and Christian aTunde Adjuah
Christian Scott chronology
Ninety Miles
(2011)		 Christian aTunde Adjuah
(2012)		 Ninety Miles Live at Cubadisco
(2012)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic75/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
All About Jazz[2]
Allmusic[3]
The Guardian[4]
The Irish Times[5]
Jazzwise[6]
laut.de[7]
The List[8]
Mojo[9]
PopMatters6/10[10]
Tom HullB+[11]

Christian aTunde Adjuah is a two-disc studio album by American jazz trumpeter Christian Scott released on 31 July 2012 by Concord Records.[12]

Background

Scott's 2010 album Yesterday You Said Tomorrow was a successful manifestation of the music concept that he calls "stretch music". The concept understands and respects the jazz traditions that came before and doesn't attempt to replace them, instead trying to embrace within its rhythmic and harmonic frameworks as many musical forms and cultural languages as possible. Christian aTunde Adjuah and later Stretch Music are thoughtful extensions of that trend.[3]

Reception

At Metacritic, that assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 75, based on six reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".

John Fordham of The Guardian wrote, "The double album Christian aTunde Adjuah broadens the themes further: to his family's African ancestry, contemporary inequality and racism, globalisation and war. It isn't a lecture, but a courageous and ambitious experiment. The proclamatory purity of Scott's trumpet sound could carry much of the set's message on its own, but guitarist Matthew Stevens' raw chords and churning vamps make effective contrasts with the leader's silvery double-time passages."[4] Chris Ray of All About Jazz noted, "Extra-musically, too, aTunde Adjuah is a manifesto for change. Scroll down the track listing: the titles reference issues such as the rape of 400 African women in the Sudanese town of Rokero by Janjaweed militiamen ("Fatima Aisha Rokero 400"), the killing of an innocent black teenager in Florida earlier this year ("Trayvon"), the demonization of the homeless in the US ("Vs. The Kleptocratic Union: Mrs McDowell's Crime"), the trafficking of women for the sex trade ("Away: Anuradha And The Maiti Nepal"), conflict in the Middle East ("Jihad Joe"), the legacy of slavery in the US ("Dred Scott"), police killings of innocent people in New Orleans in the wake of hurricane Katrina ("Danziger"), and HIV/AIDS ("The Berlin Patient: CCR5")... Scott's music is instrumental rather than vocal, so he addresses these issues not with words, but with attitude and vibe; track titles and liner notes are the only words you get. His message is no less coherent for that, and, while it may not have the narrative literalism of "conscious" rap music, it has the same relevance, accessibility and immediacy."[2]

David Amidon of PopMatters noted, "Mostly, Christian aTunde Adjuah continues to emphasize Scott's apparent interest in the qualities of post-rock performers like Mogwai and Do Make Say Think. While his trumpet no doubt plays lead throughout the album, it's often hard to avoid getting the impression this time around that Matthew Stevens has earned equal sway within the band. Many of the tracks' most dominant melodies are his, with Scott's trumpet taking control by sheer volume as much as tonal impact. He is still by the far the most agreeable thing about this record, the reason you'd want to keep coming back for more, but this two disc set does feature plenty of songs that feel like a rock band playing host to a trumpet soloist rather than the other way around. This is where Scott's description of his compositional style - termed "stretch" or "forecasting cell" in his liners - comes into play. "Stretch jazz" essentially feels like an easy way to avoid saying "post rock + math rock + jazz", but his explanation for "forecasting cells" has more science to it."[10]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Christian Scott unless otherwise indicated.

Disc 1

  1. Fatima Aisha Rokero 400 (5:41)
  2. New New Orleans (King Adjuah Stomp) (5:01)
  3. Kruo Shinobi (Interlude) (2:25), written by Lawrence Fields and Jamire Williams
  4. Who They Wish I Was (5:42), written with Kristopher Keith Funn
  5. Pyrrhic Victory of aTunde Adjuah (5:17)
  6. Spy Boy / Flag Boy (4:45)
  7. Vs. The Kleptocratic Union (Ms. McDowell's Crime) (6:00)
  8. Kiel (6:14)
  9. Of Fire (Les Filles de la Nouvelle Orleans) (4:15)
  10. Dred Scott (4:29)
  11. Danziger (10:38)

Disc 2

  1. The Berlin Patient (CCR5) (3:50)
  2. Jihad Joe (5:56)
  3. Van Gogh (Interlude) (1:35), written with Lawrence Fields
  4. Liar Liar (5:41)
  5. I Do (4:03)
  6. Alkebu Lan (5:33)
  7. Bartlett (7:01), written by Matthew Stevens
  8. When Marissa Stands Her Ground (6:24)
  9. Cumulonimbus (Interlude) (2:26), written by Lawrence Fields
  10. Away (Anuradha & The Maiti Nepal) (7:03)
  11. The Red Rooster (3:37), written by Kristopher Keith Funn
  12. Cara (5:30)

Personnel

Chart performance

Chart (2012) Peak
position
US Jazz Albums (Billboard)[13] 2

References

  1. ↑ "CHRISTIAN A TUNDE ADJUAH by Christian Scott". Metacritic. metacritic.com. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  2. 1 2 May, Chris (June 11, 2012). "Christian Scott: ATunde Adjuah". All About Jazz. allaboutjazz.com. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Christian aTunde Adjuah - Christian Scott | AllMusic". allmusic.com. 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
  4. 1 2 Fordham, John (28 June 2012). "Christian Scott: Christian aTunde Adjuah – review". The Guardian. theguardian.com. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  5. ↑ Carroll, Jim (24 August 2012). "Christian Scott". The Irish Times. irishtimes.com. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  6. ↑ Harris, Selwyn (September 2012). "Review". Jazzwise. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  7. ↑ Kobelitz, Sven. "Christian gibt den Kritikern ihr Schappi und zieht weiter" (in German). laut.de. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  8. ↑ Mathieson, Kenny (2012-07-30). "Christian Scott: Christian aTunde Adjuah". The List. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  9. ↑ "Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah – Christian aTunde Adjuah". Album of the Year. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  10. 1 2 Amidon, David (6 August 2012). "Christian Scott: Christian aTunde Adjuah". PopMatters. popmatters.com. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  11. ↑ "Tom Hull: Grade List: Christian Scott". Tom Hull. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  12. ↑ "Christian Scott – Christian Atunde Adjuah". Discogs. discogs.com. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  13. ↑ "CHRISTIAN SCOTT: CHART HISTORY". Billboard. billboard.com. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
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