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The New Cool: Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah returns to the Northwest

Eric Ryan Anderson
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah plays Nectar in Fremont Thursday night.

One of today's leaders in modern jazz fusion returns to the Northwest for shows in Seattle and Portland next week. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah brings his bent trumpet to Nectar Lounge Tuesday night, before opening the Portland Jazz Festival at the Star Theater Feb. 20. That show is already sold out.

The New Orleans native is and has been a non-stop musical force for years. Let's take a quick look at this modern jazz champion through time: past, present and future. No, reverse that.

Scott's upcoming album Ancestral Recall continues his efforts to combine musical styles and rhythms from around the world with American styles like rock, soul and even rap. Set for a March 22nd release from Ropeadope/Stretch Music, the just-released single is the title song, and features the spoken word vocals of poet Saul Williams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbwRAqehXuI

Just this month, Scott was nominated for a Grammy award for the third album in his recent Centennial Trilogy, The Emancipation Procrastination. You'll hear the beautiful, futuristic chill out track "AvengHer" from this album on The New Cool Saturday afternoon.

And drifting further back in time, you can revisit his breakout 2015 collection Stretch Music as played by Christian Scott and his band live in the KNKX studios that Fall. The session included two songs from the album, and a rarity. "Kind of New" was written by Scott's uncle, saxophonist Donald Harrison, and first recorded by the young trumpeter at age 16. You can hear the familial love in this performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMxuDXs9KEE

The Bad Plus also return to Seattle next week, performing at Jazz Alley Tuesday and Wednesday, making their Northwest debut with new pianist Orrin Evans. They'll be live in our studios Wednesday afternoon at 12:15.

Get busy like Christian Scott, get out there and enjoy some of today's best modern jazz musicians playing right here in our backyard. I hope to see you there.

The New Cool airs Saturdays from 3 to 5 p.m., hosted by Abe Beeson and produced by KNKX Public Radio in Seattle, Wash.