Young and extremely talented, Adam O’Farrill is a modern jazz trumpeter from Brooklyn, NY, who comes from a lineage of marvelous musicians. His father, the widely known Cuban pianist, composer, and bandleader Arturo O’Farrill, has all the reasons to be proud of a son who, at the age of 21, has collaborated with Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer, Ambrose Akinmusire, Joe Lovano, and more recently Stephan Crump’s Rhombal.
For this recording, Adam had the company of his brother Zack on drums, Chad Lefkowitz-Brown on tenor saxophone, and Walter Stinson on bass.
Outlined for quartet, “Stranger Days was pretty much influenced by film and theater. Each tune attempts to paint a scene whose variable natures are somehow connected.
Sturdy and concise, the 6/8 “A & R Italian Eatery” relies on precise unisons and
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The effective improvisations succeed one another with color and feeling.
Highlighting Stinson 's basswork and Zack 's dry drumming, “Survival Instincts” appears as an awkwardly disconcerting dance that gets epic contours. It opposes to the simplicity of movements revealed in Stinson’s “Why She Loves”.
“Alligator Got the Blues” is another high point, showcasing a leisurely-paced introductory section before exploring alternative beats with a strong foundation in rock music. The mood is animated and the horns’ feast is no less vibrating.
Melodic repetition seems to have a purpose in “Forget Everything You’ve Learned at School”, contrasting with “Building the Metamorphosen Bridge”, which deals with a curious rhythmic complexity as it privileges interaction. “The Cows and Their Farm Walt”, stepping on a scenic ground, precedes the album 's last tune, “Lower Brooklyn Botanical Union”, a contrafact of Billy Strayhorn’s “UMMG” that mixes bop and post-bop