Jazz Articles about Adam O'Farrill

About Adam O'Farrill

Album Review

Tyshawn Sorey: Members... Don't!

Read "Members... Don't!" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
June 24, 2026

One of the most welcome developments in twenty-first century jazz has been drummer Tyshawn Sorey's enthusiastic turn toward the jazz canon. While he had already established himself convincingly as one of the premier figures in creative music on immersive, challenging works such as The Inner Spectrum of Variables (Pi Recordings, 2016) and Verisimilitude (Pi Recordings, 2017), when Sorey decided to begin his idiosyncratic interrogations of classic jazz repertoire it opened up new facets of his musical identity, especially as an ...

Album Review

JabFung: In Real Life

Read "In Real Life" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
June 20, 2026

At a time when so much of our interaction is filtered through digital platforms, the album In Real Life arrives as a reminder of the power of human beings to listen to and respond to one another in real time. The collective JabFung has thrived on the chemistry captured in this recording. Bassist Julian Anderson-Bowes, drummer Anthony Fung, alto saxophonist Luis Deniz, trumpeter Adam O'Farrill, and pianist Rafael Zaldivar create music that celebrates connection, resilience, and trust. The session's eight ...

Album Review

Tyshawn Sorey: Members... Don't!

Read "Members... Don't!" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
May 7, 2026

Pulitzer Prize-winning, MacArthur Fellow Dr. Tyshawn Sorey may not remember 1968 directly, since he was born in 1980, but he most certainly and unapologetically understands how angry that year was. And he has captured that fiery time with an epic reimagining? rethinking? rebooting? double take of Max Roach's epic telling of that year after the Summer of Love, Members, Don't Git Weary (Atlantic, 1968) Recorded live at the tail end of a four-day stay at the Jazz Gallery ...

Album Review

Adam O'Farrill: Elephant

Read "Elephant" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
May 4, 2026

Dopo quattro album di altissimo livello col pianoless quartet, Adam O'Farrill giunge al capolavoro con un nuovo organico comprendente la pianista Yvonne Rogers, il contrabbassista Walter Stinson e il batterista Russell Holzman. Il progetto è stato presentato in anteprima alla Jazz Gallery di New York il 10 e 11 settembre 2024 e l'incisione è di alcuni giorni successiva. Appena trentenne, il trombettista è un solista e compositore prodigioso, che da un decennio esprime alte doti creative. Questo è ...

Album Review

Adam O'Farrill: Elephant

Read "Elephant" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
April 16, 2026

On Elephant, trumpeter Adam O'Farrill steers his ensemble through music that is deliberate and quietly volatile. The writing favors asymmetry without sounding academic, and the group responds with alert patience. Moreover, brass lines hover and fracture while the rhythm moves in angled cycles. The album avoids easy dramatics, building tension through restraint. O'Farrill often treats the trumpet as a colorist's tool--sketching edges rather than bold outlines, entering sideways to shade harmony rather than lead it. The band functions ...

Album Review

Mary Halvorson: About Ghosts

Read "About Ghosts" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
June 13, 2025

Since Mary Halvorson began her prolific affiliation with Nonesuch Records, she has refused to repeat herself except with a purpose. The simultaneous release of Amaryllis & Belladonna (Nonesuch Records, 2022) was the precursor to the expansive Cloudward (Nonesuch Records, 2024), while About Ghosts represents a retrenchment, albeit a productive one. On five of these eight cuts, the identical Amaryllis Sextet that appeared on the latter LP interacts smoothly with guest saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins and Brian Settles. Such synchrony ...

Album Review

Adam O'Farrill: For These Streets

Read "For These Streets" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
June 11, 2025

With For These Streets, trumpeter and composer Adam O'Farrill presents a sharply contoured, richly imagined statement for mid-sized band--his most complete vision to date. Drawing on an eclectic range of influences, from 1930s-era music, literature and film to the rhythms of contemporary urban life, O'Farrill leads a wily crew of his peers through a program that moves with narrative cohesion. Though not a suite in the formal sense, the album unfolds like one, the pieces linked by emotional throughlines and ...