Equally gifted and award-winning as a musician, self taught fine
artist, photographer/multimedia artist, set/furniture and clothing
designer--Adu Jahmal is more than a Renaissance Man. He
channels the beautiful, bold, existential heritage of Chicago's
Bronzeville Neighborhood, the same geography of Quincy Jones,
Jack Johnson, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Josephine Baker,
Gordon Parks, Richard Wright, Oscar Brown and many others, in
all of his art.
Adu has told quite a few interviewers that “You can't walk past the
great Chicago muralist Caton Mitchell's art and not want to speak
about your world in bold, colorful strokes. Likewise, you can't
grow up passing great blues clubs like “Theresa's” on your way to
school and not want to speak to other people through music.
Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood combusted artistic
expressiveness in us all and wrapped it around the essence of all of
our daily triumphs, struggles and very existence. Today, I can go
anywhere, anytime -- and understand people and their culture
through the essential languages of art and music. A beautiful
thing. I wish more of us were rooted in the natural rhythms of
existential, expressive living!”
Adu Jahmal's artwork's been exhibited all over the world, from the
archives of NYC's Shomberg Center, and Chicago's DuSable
Museum of African American History to galleries all over the
country.
A horn player and drummer/percussionist, Adu is a uniquely gifted
musician's musician who plays all genres equally well. He rocks
with jazz bands, grooves with Rock and Rollers, syncopates Eastern rhythms and intuits African ones. Imagine the
music he produces with his own bands!
A painter, graphic artist and digital media whiz, he has also produced many award-winning multi-media
documentaries, including one for Spike Lee about “Morfaye,” the renowned Venice Biennale artist who mentored
Basquiat. He has also produced and hosted cooking shows. His accompanying wine lists and wine education as
entertainment boosted the Washington wine industry.
Adu is a citizen of the world because he's performed and lived all over the world. His years of living in France and
China are particularly reflected in his music and his art. He has even developed and imported his own label of
French wine!
As his own, sophisticated creativity brew it is not surprising that he's been approached many times to be featured
in reality television shows by American, European and Japanese TV producers.
AND WHY NOT? He is certainly one of the most original existential artists rocking that old Chicago Bronzeville
district vibe any of us may ever meet.
Adu Jahmal
© Adu Jahmal 2013 All Rights Reserved