Rutgers IJS & Dorthaan Kirk Present Sonelius Smith, Adam Kahan And Friends

Get ready for an amazing in-person experience featuring the incredible talents of Sonelius Smith, Adam Kahan, and their friends. It's a night full of great music, good vibes, and some unforgettable moments. Don't miss out on this awesome gathering brought to you by Ruthers IJS and Dorthaan Kirk. See you there!

Sonelius Smith and Adam Kahan started their musical partnership in 2015. Combining roads traveled and untraveled, what they don’t know and what they haven’t already played; Smith and Kahan explore original compositions, standards, and some other stuff. On any given night they are sure to play something wildly beautiful, compelling and familiar, and then break through the guard rails and drive off a musical cliff.
Sonelius Smith is the greatest pianist you’ve probably never heard. A truly unique artist, his ideas are more incendiary than the staunchest avant-gardist (though the avant-garde can’t claim him). He can also be straight-ahead or even in the pocket (but the straight-aheaders wouldn’t touch him). Living the music for more than eight decades and hailing from Hillhouse, Mississippi, he plays with a soul and spirit that are intangible. Infused with tradition and history, he rejects the expected at every measure. He may be inclined to play a well traveled standard, but then approach it in such a way that sounds alarm bells for the Jazz Police. He may play the most beautiful unimagined music you’ll ever hear, and then produce puzzling even confounding passages, while patiently giving space and silence their due. The list of greats Sonelius has played with is both long and impressive - Charles Mingus, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Elvin Jones, Rashied Ali, Archie Shepp, Freddie Hubbard, Shamek Farrah – to name just a few. His compositions have been recorded by greats such as Ahmad Jamal, David Murray, Stanley Cowell, Robin Kenyatta and others. When not making music, Sonelius is a prolific painter. Amongst the three pianos in his house, electric keyboards, upright bass, guitar, drums, scores of music… are endless canvases he’s painted over the years – portraits of Jazz greats such as Monk and Trane, abstracts, nudes, still lifes, musical notes, you name it.
Adam Kahan is a bass player and filmmaker who has been collaborating with Sonelius Smith for over 10 years, and in many different forms. They first started working together, with saxophonist/flutist Clare Daly, writing and recording music for film. This led to the three working as a trio playing regularly in New York. Adam then formed and led the Lo-Fly sextet which featured Smith on piano, Daly on baritone, Ray Scro on baritone and soprano, Nana Sakomoto on trombone and Dwayne Cook Broadnax on drums. Adam also worked with pianist David Durrah for multiple years, up until his death in 2021. As a filmmaker, Adam has made documentaries on Rahsaan Roland Kirk (how he first met Sonelius), Buster Williams, Andres Serrano, Fred Tomaselli, narrative and experimental shorts as well.Smith and Kahan will be joined by Rodney Chapman (tenor), Gener R. Coleman (flute), Michael Irwin (trumpet) and George Schuller (drums).

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Host or Publisher The Institute of Jazz Studies Rutgers-Newark