Bio

photo by Camilo Fuenteabla

Brooklyn native, Adam O'Farrill, 28, has emerged as a “rising star as a player and composer” (PopMatters) and “a blazing young trumpet talent” (The New York Times). Coming from a rich musical lineage, Adam’s grandfather was the boundary-pushing Cuban composer and arranger, Chico O’Farrill; his father is the composer, pianist, and activist, Arturo O’Farrill; his mother, Alison Deane, is a classical pianist and educator; and his brother, Zack O’Farrill, is a drummer and composer, who also performs in Adam’s band, Stranger Days. Further shaped by growing up in the rich and diverse musical community of New York City, Adam has cemented himself as one of the most in-demand trumpet players in the city, as well as internationally. He has collaborated and performed with the likes of Mary Halvorson, Hiromi, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Anna Webber, Samora Pinderhughes, Mulatu Astatke, Stimmerman, Vijay Iyer, and Son Lux.

O'Farrill's music is both abstract and personal, writing compositions that reflect subjects such as being mixed race, growing up in New York, family history, and spirituality. His primary band as a leader in the quartet, Stranger Days, featuring Xavier Del Castillo, Walter Stinson, and Zack O'Farrill. Their most recent album, Visions of Your Other, was released on Biophilia Records in November 2021, and was called “O’Farrill’s most melodically engaging effort yet”, by The New York Times. The album primarily features Adam’s original compositions, as well as an arrangement of a piece by Ryuichi Sakamoto, and a piece by Stinson. One of the album’s pieces, “Blackening Skies”, was set to animation by Elenor Kopka (Adult Swim, MTV). Visions of Your Other was named one of the best jazz albums of 2021 by The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Popmatters, and was awarded the Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik in January 2022. In the spring of 2022, the band held a residency at Morning Glory Farm in Bethel, ME, exploring the intersection of farming and music. The residency was held in preparation for the recording of the band’s fourth album, which was recorded in May 2022. In the summer of 2022, Adam performed and recorded a new book of octet music, called For These Streets, loosely inspired by the literature and music of the 1930s. The album features Mary Halvorson, Patricia Brennan, Tyrone Allen, Tomas Fujiwara, David Leon, Kalun Leung, Kevin Sun, and Eli Greenhoe.

O'Farrill has received awards and recognition for both his trumpet playing and composition. In both 2019 and 2021, he won the Downbeat Critics Poll for Best Rising Star Trumpeter. Adam has also received commissions and grants from organizations such as The Shifting Foundation, South Arts, Roulette, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Metropolis Ensemble, The Jazz Gallery, as well as winning the ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award. In 2014, O’Farrill won 3rd place honors in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Trumpet Competition.

Adam holds a B.M. in Jazz Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. During his time there, he studied composition with Reiko Füting, and trumpet with Laurie Frink, Thomas Smith, and Cecil Bridgewater. Previous to college, O'Farrill's teachers included Jim Seeley, Nathan Warner, Ambrose Akinmusire, and he attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music and Art and Performing Arts, in Manhattan.