Christian Scott

Born in New Orleans in 1983, Christian Scott — later Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah and then Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah — is rooted in the Afro–New Orleans musical and cultural tradition while moving it toward a contemporary jazz that embraces hip‑hop, fusion and some textures of alternative rock. Trained early by his uncle Donald Harrison Jr., and a graduate of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and Berklee College of Music, Christian Scott began recording in the early 2000s and released Rewind That (2006), Anthem (2007) and Yesterday You Said Tomorrow (2010). Across his discography he developed the idea of “Stretch Music,” an approach that expands jazz’s vocabulary by integrating New Orleans rhythms, African inheritances and contemporary urban forms; it took shape on Stretch Music (2015) and on the trilogy Ruler Rebel, Diaspora and The Emancipation Procrastination (2017). He also took part in the Ninety Miles project with David Sánchez and Stefon Harris, and joined the R+R=NOW collective led by Robert Glasper. Ancestral Recall (2019), Axiom (2020) and Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning (2023) continue this trajectory, emphasizing diasporic memory, improvisation and dense rhythmic writing.