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Adam Cordero

New York native Adam Cordero is a saxophonist, composer, educator, and multi-instrumentalist based in Queens, New York. His dedication to music has led him to play at the most established jazz venues in the NYC area such as The Jazz Gallery, Smalls Jazz Club, Roulette Intermedium, Bar Next Door, and Williamsburg Music Center. Adam has also performed internationally for a week-long engagement at the Bern Jazz Festival '21, held in Switzerland, as well as South Korea ('24) for a series of four concerts. Adam’s quintet, “Arcadia ” strives to unite people in the need to preserve our environment. "Arcadia" holds benefit concerts throughout the year— their most recent event was held on April 24th, 2024 at Julian's NYC, raising money for the PCRF. In 2022, Adam's career as a bassoonist led him to collaborate with avant-garde jazz legend & Pulitzer Prize winner, Henry Threadgill for his multimedia project "The Other One" which was performed + recorded live at Roulette Intermedium and released as an album in 2023. Adam has shared the stage with other incredible artists such as Morgan Guerin, Alfredo Colon, Ingrid Jensen, David Virelles, and Tyshawn Sorey. Adam's most recent album recorded with Odin Scherer in 2023, Sonora, "explores musical landscapes, balancing robustness and fragility to evoke significant emotional responses" according to acclaimed reviewer Filipe Freitas at JazzTrail. Adam was named a National YoungArts Foundation Winner in 2018 and in 2019, he performed and was broadcasted on the East Coast's premier jazz radio station, WBGO. In addition to playing saxophones & bassoon primarily, Adam also plays clarinet, bass clarinet, and flute.

Growing up in Roslyn Heights, NY, Adam was often captivated by the simple beauties of nature he was surrounded by. In the past several years, his fascination with the natural world began to entangle itself with his artistry. While Adam’s music explores a crossing of different genres with modern jazz, his compositional process is most inspired by nature. Whether it be hearing a bird call or staring in awe at a tree, Adam uses nature as a catalyst for writing his compositions. He hopes his duo project with Odin Scherer and his quintet, “Arcadia” will inspire listeners to consider their relationship with nature.

Adam holds a BFA degree with high honors from The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Adam teaches his own studio of students privately and is an adjunct faculty member at The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music.

Henry Threadgill: The Other One

Read "The Other One" reviewed by Giuseppe Segala

by Giuseppe Segala
October 30, 2023

Giunto sulla soglia delle ottanta primavere, Henry Threadgill non lascia sbiadire la propria splendida vitalità creativa. Lo ha fatto quest'anno sia con la pubblicazione dell'imperdibile autobiografiaEasily Slip into Another World, che con una nuova realizzazione discografica, The Other One. Pure questa imperdibile, si colloca tra i lavori che lo hanno visto impegnato esclusivamente come compositore e direttore dell'ensemble, non in qualità di strumentista e solista, sulla traccia dei precedenti Old Locks and Irregular Verbs, del 2016, e Double ...

Album Review

Henry Threadgill: The Other One

Read "The Other One" reviewed by John Ephland

by John Ephland
July 25, 2023

Listening to Henry Threadgill's music, the bobbing and weaving doesn't maintain a continuity but can jump from one strand to another, one scene to another, as in a dream. It is tonal and not, just as dreams are, perhaps, rhapsodic or unkempt, the story or plot being as tangible, fungible as a summer breeze. Much is made of Threadgill's chamber-music esthetic. And rightly so. It is “so chamber music precise it must all be premeditated, right?" asked the ...

Album Review

Henry Threadgill Ensemble: The Other One

Read "The Other One" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
July 11, 2023

Now that Henry Threadgill has begun receiving the accolades he has long deserved--the Pulitzer Prize he won in 2016 for In for a Penny, In for a Pound (Pi Recordings, 2015) being just the most prominent example--it is impressive to find him still relentlessly stretching himself as a performer and composer. Since his first forays into the jazz avant-garde in the 1970s, the maverick multi-instrumentalist has always made music that challenges listeners in exciting ways, but it is his uncanny ...

Primary Instrument

Saxophone, alto

Location

New York City

Willing to teach

Beginner to advanced

Credentials/Background

"In the 10+ years I have known Adam, I have witnessed an ascent from gifted student musician, to seasoned professional - exuding a wisdom as both performer and educator well beyond his years. What truly separates him from the rest is that his world-class performance and creative skills actually fuel his passion to educate a new generation of young musicians equally on a multitude of instruments and styles. As humbled as I was to call him "student," I am thrilled to call him, 'colleague' and more so - 'inspiration.'"