Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s critique of the Danziger Bridge shootings

Authors

  • James Gordon Williams Syracuse University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.37660

Keywords:

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, stretch music, Danziger Bridge, forecasting cell, improvised music

Abstract

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah is an African American trumpeter, composer and producerfrom New Orleans, Louisiana. He has written compositions and performed improvisationscommitted to social justice themes. His cultural work is a natural extensionof his community service training directed by his grandfather Donald Harrison Sr. Hiscomposition 'Danziger' (2012) gives voice to the unarmed citizens injured and killed bypolice as they crossed the Danziger Bridge in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. 'Danziger'extends from his stretch music theory which aTunde Adjuah describes as disassemblingand reassembling musical ideas so that his compositions and improvisations canbe understood holistically. While aTunde Adjuah's interpretation of the Danziger Bridgeshootings is funneled through the ontological cornucopia of his trumpet and referenceshis particular community, the message he sends out through his custom-made trumpetbell is universal because his critique supports everyday human rights.

Author Biography

  • James Gordon Williams, Syracuse University

    James Gordon Williams is a transdisciplinary American pianist, composer andimproviser who has worked with poets, experimental filmmakers and video artists. Williamsis Assistant Professor at Syracuse University where he teaches critical musicologycourses in the African American Studies Department. He recently performed withvideo artist Suné Woods and poet Fred Moten at the UCLA Hammer Museum in a programcalled You are mine. I see now, I'm a have to let you go. Williams improvised a livepiano score for the artist Cauleen Smith's world premiere of Crow Requiem in a multidisciplinaryprogram called Speculations: Science Fiction, Chronopolitics, & SocialChange at Everson Museum. The Los Angeles native has performed at the VillageVanguard and Birdland as well as several music festivals in the United States, Malta,Switzerland, France and Italy. Williams is an alumnus of University of California SanDiego where he received his PhD in Integrative Studies. His book Crossing Bar Lines:The Politics and Practice of Black Musical Space will be published by University Pressof Mississippi in 2021.

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Published

2020-02-14

How to Cite

Williams, J. G. (2020). Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s critique of the Danziger Bridge shootings. Jazz Research Journal, 13(1-2), 70–92. https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.37660