Adam O'Farrill

Brooklyn-born trumpeter and composer Adam O’Farrill, hailed as a leading light of the new American jazz scene, announces his bold new quartet project Elephant. With this ensemble, O’Farrill expands his sonic language into a fresh, genre-blurring space that fuses the intimacy of the jazz quartet with the emotional depth of 20th‑century minimalism and the rhythmic urgency of contemporary electronic and dance music.

Elephant features a powerful lineup: O’Farrill on trumpet and electronics, Yvonne Rogers on piano, prepared piano, and synthesizer, Walter Stinson on double bass, and Russell Holzman on drums. Together, they create a sound that is at once radiant and angular, patient and propulsive, drawing inspiration from composers like Steve Reich and Ryuichi Sakamoto as well as the beat-driven energy of the drum machine era. O’Farrill’s music has long been praised for its lyrical yet avant‑garde character, bridging tradition and modernity with a distinctly New York sensibility. As the grandson of legendary Cuban arranger Chico O’Farrill, he brings a deep melodic and rhythmic richness to his work, while fearlessly engaging with art rock, contemporary classical, and electronic influences.

With Elephant, he steps into a new chapter as a bandleader, crafting compositions that feel both intimate and cinematic. The quartet’s sound balances the freedom of the classic piano‑free jazz quartet with the textural and harmonic sophistication of modern composition, creating a space where improvisation and structure coexist in dynamic tension. The Elephant album presents a suite of original pieces that explore form, color, and groove with remarkable clarity and emotional range. Tracks like “Curves and Convolutions,” the three-part “Sea Triptych,” and “Eleanor’s Dance” showcase O’Farrill’s gift for melodic invention and rhythmic complexity, while pieces such as “Herkimer Diamond” and “The Return” reveal a more introspective, spacious side of the band.

Yvonne Rogers’ use of piano, prepared piano, and synthesizer adds a rich, otherworldly texture, while Walter Stinson’s bass and Russell Holzman’s drums provide both a deep, grounding pulse and a flexible, responsive framework for O’Farrill’s trumpet and electronic explorations.