Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah
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Adjuah live in 2016 at Leverkusener Jazztage
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| Also known as | Chief Adjuah, aTunde Adjuah, X. Adjuah, Xian Adjuah |
| Born | March 31, 1983 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1996–present |
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Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah (born March 31, 1983), who used to be known as Christian Scott, is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and music producer. He plays many different instruments.
He has been nominated for six Grammy Awards, which are big music prizes. He has also won two Edison Awards. People have called him the Jazz FM Innovator of the Year and the Jazz Journalists Association Trumpeter of the Year. Adjuah is the nephew of famous jazz saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr.. He is also a leader in his community, known as the Chieftain of the Xodokan Nation of Maroons and Grand Griot of New Orleans. This is a special honor given to him for his cultural work.
Contents
Early Life and Music Training
Xian aTunde Adjuah was born on March 31, 1983, in New Orleans, Louisiana. His mother is Cara Harrison and his father is Clinton Scott III. He has a twin brother named Kiel Adrian Scott, who is a writer and director.
When he was 12, his uncle, jazz alto saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr., started teaching him music. By age 14, Adjuah was accepted into the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). There, he studied jazz with great teachers like Clyde Kerr, Jr. and Kent Jordan. At 16, he joined his uncle's band and started recording music.
After finishing NOCCA, Adjuah got a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He finished his studies very quickly, in less than 30 months, and graduated in 2004. While at Berklee, he started his own record label called Impromp2 Records. He released his first recording, Christian Scott, in 2002.
Music Career Highlights
Starting Out and First Albums (2002–2009)
After college, Adjuah signed with Concord Music in 2005. His first album with Concord Records was Rewind That (2006). This album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.
In 2007, he released Anthem. In 2008, he released Live at Newport, which was a CD and DVD set. NPR, a big radio station, said this album "Ushers In New Era of Jazz." In 2007, Ebony magazine named him one of their "30 Young Leaders Under 30."
New Sounds and Collaborations (2010–2012)
In 2010, Adjuah released Yesterday You Said Tomorrow. This album won an Edison Award. Around this time, he also created his "Stretch Music" idea. He wanted to mix different music styles, like jazz, hip hop, and traditional African sounds. He said he wanted to "stretch the definition of jazz."
In 2010, Adjuah toured with a supergroup called Atoms for Peace. This band included Radiohead's Thom York and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea.
He also formed a group called Ninety Miles with David Sánchez and Stefon Harris. They recorded music in Havana, Cuba, with Cuban musicians. This led to the album Ninety Miles Project (2010) and a documentary.
In 2012, Adjuah released a double album called Christian aTunde Adjuah. This album was praised by critics and won him his second Edison Award for Best International Jazz Artist.
Stretch Music Label and Trilogy (2014–2020)
Adjuah started his own record label, Stretch Music, in 2014. He also launched a Stretch Music app in 2015. This app lets listeners control different parts of the music, like changing the speed or looping parts of a song.
In 2017, he released three albums together, called The Centennial Trilogy. These albums celebrated 100 years since the first jazz recordings. The albums were Ruler Rebel, Diaspora, and The Emancipation Procrastination. The Emancipation Procrastination was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2018.
His 2019 album, Ancestral Recall, also received a Grammy nomination. In 2020, he released Axiom, which was recorded live at the famous Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City. Axiom also got a Grammy nomination.
Adjuah was also nominated for Best Jazz Solo Performance for his songs "Guinnevere" in 2020 and "Sackodougou" in 2021.
Recent Work (2021–Present)
In 2021, Adjuah started a new group called Chief Adjuah & the Sound Carved from Legend. In 2022, he was featured in an advertising campaign for BMW XM cars. In 2023, he won the Doris Duke Foundation's Doris Duke Artist Award, which is a major award for artists.
His album Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning was released in June 2023. On this album, Adjuah plays instruments he designed himself, not the trumpet. This album connects to old Black Indian recordings and shows how his music continues to grow and change.
Designing New Instruments
Chief Adjuah has designed special brass instruments. These are made and sold by Adams Musical Instruments. His trumpet has a bell that tilts upward at a 22-degree angle. This is similar to trumpets played by Dizzy Gillespie, but with a different angle.
He also designed the "Reverse Flugel," which Adams calls the "Adjuah Trumpet." It's an inverted flugelhorn that can play higher notes. He also created the Siren, which is a mix of a trumpet and a cornet, and a smaller version called the Sirenette.
Adjuah also developed a double-sided electric harp called an "Adjuah bow." It combines ideas from two traditional West African instruments, the Ngoni and the Kora.
Personal Life and Heritage
Adjuah's family comes from the Maroon culture and Mardi Gras Indian tradition of New Orleans. He prefers to call them "Afro New Orleanian" or "Black Indian." His grandfather, Donald Harrison Sr., was a leader of several Mardi Gras Indian tribes. His uncle, Donald Harrison Jr., is also a Big Chief of a cultural group.
Adjuah started taking part in these traditions with his twin brother when he was young. Today, he is the Chieftain of the Xodokan Nation of Maroons. In 2023, he was named Grand Griot of New Orleans. This important role was previously held by his grandmother, Herreast Harrison.
Why He Changed His Name
Chief Adjuah was born Christian Andre Scott. In 2012, he started performing as Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah. He did this to honor his family's West African and Indigenous roots. "aTunde" and "Adjuah" are names of ancient cities in what is now Ghana.
He explained that he wanted his name to better show his identity and background. He said, "I wanted to create something that better reflected my identity and my background. I don't know specifically that my family came from Ghana – they may have come from Senegal or the Congo – but I sure as hell know that I'm not Scottish." In 2023, he legally changed his name to Xian aTunde Adjuah and now performs as Chief Adjuah.
Film and TV Appearances
- 2010: Passion Play (musician for Nate Poole's trumpet)
- 2016: Articulate (featured subject)
- 2016: Samaria (executive producer, music arranger, trumpeter)
- 2020: The Photograph (trumpeter)
- 2020: American Masters In the Making: "Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah: The New Chief" (featured subject)
Discography
As leader
- 2002: Christian Scott (Impromp2, 2003)
- 2005: Rewind That (Concord Jazz, 2006)
- 2007: Anthem (Concord Jazz, 2007)
- 2001–04: Two of a Kind with Donald Harrison (Nagel Heyer, 2008)
- 2008: Live at Newport (Concord Jazz, 2008) – live
- 2009: Yesterday You Said Tomorrow (Concord Jazz, 2010)
- 2010: Ninety Miles Project (Concord Jazz, 2011)
- 2010: Ninety Miles Live at Cubadisco (Concord Jazz, 2012) – live
- 2011: Christian aTunde Adjuah (Concord Jazz, 2012)
- 2014: Stretch Music (Ropeadope Records, 2015)
- 2016: Diaspora (Ropeadope/Stretch, 2017)
- 2016: Ruler Rebel (Ropeadope/Stretch, 2017)
- 2016: The Emancipation Procrastination (Ropeadope/Stretch, 2017)
- 2018: Ancestral Recall (Ropeadope/Stretch, 2019)
- 2020: Axiom (Ropeadope, 2020) – live
- 2023: Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning (Ropeadope, 2023)
As sideman
With Donald Harrison
- Real Life Stories (Nagel Heyer, 2002) – recorded in 2001
- Kind of New (Candid, 2002)
- Paradise Found (Fomp, 2003)
With others
- Philip Bailey, Love Will Find a Way (Verve, 2019)
- David Benoit, Jazz for Peanuts (Peak, 2008)
- DJ Logic & Jason Miles, Global Noize (Shanachie, 2008)
- Stefon Harris, Ninety Miles Live at Cubadisco (Concord Picante, 2011)
- Boney James, Shine (Concord, 2006)
- Jose James, No Beginning No End 2 (Rainbow Blonde, 2020)
- Ledisi, It's Christmas (Verve Forecast, 2008)
- Harvey Mason, Chameleon (Concord, 2014)
- Marcus Miller, Tutu Revisited (Dreyfus, 2011)
- Melissa Morgan, Until I Met You (Telarc, 2009)
- Akua Naru, The Miner's Canary (Urban Era, 2015)
- Sergio Pamies, Borrachito (Bebyne, 2011)
- Prince, Planet Earth (NPG/Columbia, 2007)
- Soulive, Live at the Blue Note Tokyo (P-Vine, 2010)
- Ben Williams, Coming of Age (Concord Jazz, 2015)
