Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
Ancestral Recall (Ropeadope)
There’s a sense that this is the kind of album this New Orleans native has been building toward for the better part of a decade, its substantive sonic roots beginning with 2012’s Christian aTunde Adjuah and continuing through 2017’s Centennial Trilogy records. Had Ancestral Recall not come nearly 20 years after the tremendously talented trumpeter-turned-multi-instrumentalist first delivered a bandleader LP, it would be much easier for cross-armed purists to discount its place in jazz. Those who’ve followed Scott’s odyssey know his chops are legit, and his commitment to applying that deep understanding of the genre to new forms. It comes in the machine whirr that complicates the otherwise acoustic session of “Prophesy” and in the lushness and layering of “Double Consciousness.” He shares the blessings of Saul Williams’ sung performance poetry over rapid-fire West African polyrhythms on “I Own The Night” at one point and, later on, Elena Pinderhughes’ flute fluttering through the trumpet bleat and indigenous beat of “Before.” An accessible standout, “Forevergirl” carries all the nuance and quirk of a Radiohead suite without any of the art rock meandering.