Chief Adjuah

Chief Adjuah is a sonic architect in the fullest sense: trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, instrument designer, and cultural leader whose work exists at the intersection of sound, technology, and tradition. A two-time Edison Award winner, six-time Grammy nominee, and Doris Duke Award recipient, the New Orleans-born artist is the progenitor of Stretch Music, a genre he created to dissolve the barriers between jazz, hip-hop, rock, electronic, and West African musical forms. His catalog spans thirteen studio recordings and four live albums, each one expanding the territory of what is possible.

Adjuah’s innovations extend beyond composition into the instruments themselves. He designed and engineered the Adjuah Trumpet, the Siren, the Sirenette, Chief Adjuah’s Bow, and the N’Goni, custom-built instruments that produce timbres unavailable on any conventional horn. He is also the founder and CEO of the Stretch Music App and Stretch Music Recording Company, building infrastructure for the movement he started. His collaborators reflect the breadth of his reach: Prince, Thom Yorke, McCoy Tyner, Marcus Miller, Flea, Robert Glasper, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Saul Williams.

Grandson of Big Chief Donald Harrison Sr. and nephew of NEA Jazz Master Donald Harrison Jr., Adjuah carries indigenous cultural leadership as a Chieftain and Oba of the Xodokan Nation and the youngest-ever Grand Griot of New Orleans. He scored his twin brother Kiel Adrian Scott’s films, work recognized with a DGA Award, a Peabody, and an NAACP Image Award, and has lent his artistry to PBS American Masters, the GAP national campaign, the BMW XM campaign, Bill & Ted Face the Music, and Stella Meghie’s The Photograph.

His honors tell the story of an artist operating without precedent: JAZZFM Innovator of the Year, JJA Trumpeter of the Year, Herb Alpert Award, Paul Ackett Award, Echo Deutscher Musikpreis, and Ebony’s 30 Under 30. Adjuah serves on the board of the NOCCA Institute and the Guardians Institute, investing in the next generation of the culture he continues to build.