Ruler Rebel

Ruler Rebel is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter Christian Scott released on March 31, 2017 by Ropeadope Records. The album is the first installment of The Centennial Trilogy, with Diaspora and The Emancipation Procrastination being the second and the third ones respectively.[9]

Ruler Rebel
Studio album by
Christian Scott
ReleasedMarch 31, 2017
RecordedApril 16–21, 2016
StudioThe Parlor, New Orleans, LA
GenreJazz
Length35:41
LabelRopeadope Records RAD-352,
Stretch Music
ProducerChristian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Chris Dunn
Christian Scott chronology
Stretch Music
(2015)		 Ruler Rebel
(2017)		 Diaspora
(2017)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Financial Times[1]
The Guardian[2]
The Irish Times[3]
Jazzwise[4]
Pitchfork7.6/10[5]
Record Collector[6]
Tom HullB+[7]
The Times[8]

Background

The album serves as a soaring ode to Scott's hometown of New Orleans.[10] Ruler Rebel is the first album in the Centennial Trilogy to honor the 100-year anniversary of the song often considered to be the first jazz recording. The trilogy, at its core, is a sobering re-evaluation of the social political realities of the world through sound. The series speaks to a litany of issues that continue to plague our collective experiences: slavery in America via the prison industrial complex, food insecurity, xenophobia, immigration, climate change, sexual orientation, gender equality, fascism and the return of the demagogue.[11]

Reception

Mike Hobart of Financial Times stated "The brash-toned New Orleans-raised trumpeter brands his big-hearted fusion of the past and present stretch music. It’s a futuristic vision that combines traditional beats with sparse hip-hop textures and tugs the heart strings with lashings of trumpet. Scott pulls the disparate elements together brilliantly with strong moods, clear lines and melodies you can hum. This release, the first in a trilogy commemorating the centenary of the first jazz recordings, presents Scott centre stage, his tone burnished by tradition, playing with only the future in mind."[1] John Bungey writing for The Times commented, "But if his ebullient, dramatic playing reflects the tradition of his native New Orleans, the settings in which he deploys it now do not. We’re a long way from the swinging rhythms and rapid chord changes that so long signalled jazz. Instead, Scott’s glistening tone is set against trap music — the southern style of hip-hop with spare beats and cavernous bass — plus African drumming and electronica."[8]

Adolf Alzufar of Ransom Note wrote "There's something political to the beauty of Scott’s Jazz. It allies street sounds with the contemporary now understood to be petit-bourgeois and bourgeois language into music that exists outside of classism and in a realm of idealism, like how Archie Schepp would. The album is a great achievement. In this world wherein economic inequality has come to define our everyday life and politics, music previously associated with select social constructs now has the umph and presence of Hip Hop."[12]

Flood Magazine included the album in the Best Records of 2017 list. In his review Jason P. Woodbury wrote, "Ruler Rebel finds Scott’s “stretch music”—a blend of bop, trap, R&B, and electronic soul—more nuanced than ever. Presenting jazz as music of the moment as much as of the past, its fusion is subtle and deft."[13]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Ruler Rebel"Scott5:45
2."New Orleanian Love Song"Scott2:33
3."New Orleanian Love Song II [X. aTunde Adjuah Remix]"Scott4:56
4."Phases" (Feat. Sarah Elizabeth Charles)Cliff Hines, Sarah Elizabeth Charles4:15
5."Rise Again [Allmos Remix]"Scott, Allan Cole3:42
6."Encryption" (Feat. Elena Pinderhughes)Scott5:38
7."The Coronation of X. aTunde Adjuah" (Feat. Elena Pinderhughes)Scott5:36
8."The Reckoning"Scott3:16
Total length:35:41

Personnel
  • Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah – trumpet, siren, sirenette, reverse flugelhorn, SPD-SX, sampling, sonic architecture
  • Elena Pinderhughes – flute
  • Lawrence Fields – piano
  • Luques Curtis – bass
  • Kris Funn – bass
  • Joshua Crumbly – bass
  • Cliff Hines – guitar
  • Corey Fonville – drums, SPD-SX
  • Joe Dyson Jr. – pan-African Drums, SPD-SX
  • Weedie Braimah – djembe, bata, congas
  • Chief Shaka Shaka – dununba, sangban, kenikeni

Chart performance
Chart (2017) Peak
position
US Jazz Albums (Billboard)[14] 5

References
  1. Hobart, Make (31 March 2017). "Christian Scott: Ruler Rebel — 'burnished by tradition'". Financial Times. ft.com. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  2. Fordham, John (20 April 2017). "Christian Scott: Ruler Rebel review – edgy reinventions of the jazz tradition". The Guardian. theguardian.com. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  3. Larkin, Cormac (6 April 2017). "Christian Scott – Ruler Rebel album review: hits the right hip-hop notes". The Irish Times. irishtimes.com. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  4. Nicholson, Stuart (July 2017). "Review". Jazzwise. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  5. Colter Walls, Seth (21 October 2017). "Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah Ruler Rebel". Pitchfork. pitchfork.com. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  6. Waring, Charles. "Ruler Rebel (**** Ropeadope)". Record Collector. recordcollectormag.com. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  7. "Tom Hull: Grade List: Christian Scott". Tom Hull. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  8. Bungey, John (31 March 2017). "Jazz: Christian Scott/ Various artists: Running the Voodoo Down". The Times. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  9. Mullin, Kyle (July 19, 2017). "Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah: The Best Of What's Next". Paste Magazine. pastemagazine.com. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  10. Zacharias, Isabel; Fleeger, Matt (January 5, 2018). "Christian Scott's Centennial Trilogy Is A Masterpiece". KMHD. opb.org. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  11. "Christian Scott – Ruler Rebel". Discogs. discogs.com. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  12. Alzufar, Adolf. "REVIEW: CHRISTIAN SCOTT - RULER REBEL". Ransom Note. theransomnote.com. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  13. Woodbury, Jason P. (23 June 2017). "FLOOD's Best Records of 2017 (So Far)". Flood Magazine. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  14. "CHRISTIAN SCOTT: CHART HISTORY". Billboard. billboard.com. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
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