01.08.2018
Text: Cem Kayıran
After 30th April, World Jazz Day, we compiled a list of upcoming talents whose work in the following years will be definitely worth to watch out for. The list includes musicians like Shabaka Hutchings, Trombone Shorty and Cécile McLorin, who already found their place among the iconic talents, as well as names like Adam O’Farrill, Alexandra Ridout and Moses Boyd, who has unique and exciting perspectives.
Adam O’Farrill
Grandson of legendary composer Chico O’Farril and son of Grammy winner pianist and composer Arturo O’Farril, Adam O’Farril naturally found himself on stage at an early age. While he released two albums with his brother Zack O’Farril in the beginning of 2010’s, he has also accompanied quiet a few legendary names such as Rudresh Mahtappa, Gabriel Zucker, Mulatu Astatke, Vijay Iyer and Steve Lehman, both in recording sessions and on stage with his trumpet. Adam O’Farril’s Afro-Cuban roots and interest in Mexican sounds are quiet influential in the albums he released with his quartet.
Moses Boyd
A musician who is affiliated with the hot trend of British new wave jazz, Moses Boyd blends various influences with his unique drumming style. Making jazz music that can command a dance floor, Boyd’s biggest inspiration is Gilles Peterson. Sam Sheperd, who is known by the Floating Points project, is Boyd’s mentor, and the initial recordings that Boyd shared with him first also launched Boyd’s career into a different realm. As Sheperd played Boyd’s tracks all over the world in Dj sets, his music became pretty popular among masses. So far, we have watched Boyd share the stage with unique musicians/bands like Lonnie Liston Smith, Little Simz and Four Tet.
Melissa Aldana
Chilean musician Melissa Aldana is also one of the musicians who grew up with music in the family. Daughter of famous sax player Marcos Aldana, Melissa asked his father to teach her the instrument when she was just six. Her interest in jazz developed with some Charlie Parker recordings and in short time she started to make her own music as well as leading orchestras in Santiago. Graduated from the prestigious Berklee College of Music on a scholarship, Melissa Aldana found the opportunity to work with important musicians during college, and continued to work with her mentor George Coleman in New York. Awarded Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition by a very prestigious jury when she was just 24, Melissa Aldana continues to release albums with Crash Trio.
Shabaka Hutchings
One of the most prolific musicians of the new generation, Shabaka Hutchings is a Carrabean - British sax player and orchestra leader. After joining Sun Ra Arkestra in 2014, Hutchings shared the stage with many legends like Orlando Julius and Jack DeJohnette. While his sons of Kemet, Comet is Coming and Melt Yourself Down projects expands the jazz genre into different realms, Hutchings’ keeps on surprising his audience with his dynamic perspective into jazz.
Femi Koleoso
Just like Hutchings, Femi Koleoso is also an exciting name from London jazz scene and he is already one of the favorite drummers of the Afrobeat audience. Koleoso has already put his name on the “musicians to watch live” list both with his performances in his band Ezra Collective and his collaborations with musicians like Nubya Garcia, Camilla George and Jorja Smith. In one of his interviews, the young musician stated his perspective to music with these words: “I want to go out and do justice to the music with all of my heart. That’s my thing.”
Eldar Djangirov
Born in Kyrgyzstan, pianist Eldar Djangirov moved to USA in his childhood, where he became known as a “prodigy child”. He signed his first record deal with Sony at the young age of 18 and released five records from the major company, one of which also received a Grammy nomination. Djangirov is easily one of the most striking contemporary musicians whose talent and mastery of music is compared to legends like Dave Brubeck, Thelonious Monk and Keith Jarrett.
Cécile McLorin Salvant
Born in Miami to a French mother and a Haitian father, Cécile McLorin Salvant was already singing in Miami Choral Society at the early age of eight. Salvant released her first album Cécile in 2009 and won the Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocal Competition in the following year. Her second album WomanChild brought her a Grammy nomination and her third album For One To Love won the prestigious award. Salvant’s latest album, Dreams and Daggers was recorded live at the legendary Village Vanguard.
Peter Edwards
Receiving Parliamentary Jazz Awards’ “Newcomer of the Year” award in 2015, Peter Edwards launched his career by working with important names like Abram Wilson Quartet, Mica Paris and Zara McFarlane. Edwards formed his own piano trio in 2010 and released his first EP Jazzlotion in 2010. His second release with the same trio, Safe and Sound, came in 2013 and received high praise by various prestigious media like The Guardian and MOJO. His second LP, A Matter of Instinct proved that he was one of the most important geniuses of the new generation Edwards was chosen as the resident composer of last year’s New Music Biennal in the U.K.
Alexandra Ridout
Alexandra Ridout started playing the trumpet when she was nine and took part in various orchestras during her childhood years. At 14, she was invited to The Royal Academy of Music’s Junior department. But the world started to hear her name in 2016, when she won BBC’s “Young Jazz Musician” award at the early age of 17 by impressing the jury with her talent, her approach to music and her characteristic relationship with Blues.
Trombone Shorty
Troy Andrews, who is making musing under the Trombone Shorty name nowadays, was born in 1986 to a family of long line of musicians. He developed an interest in jazz during his childhood with his older brother James “12” Andrews’ guidance and took education at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, a prestigious school where names like Harry Connick Jr. and Wynton Marsalis graduated from. After finishing his education, he took part in tens of different collaborations, released albums from prestigious labels like Verve and Blue note as well as receiving important awards. To understand the wide array of Trombone Shorty’s musical production, look no further than the various names he has worked with: Lenny Kravitz, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Raphael Saadiq, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Mark Ronson...