Adam O’Farrill has been a head-turning talent on the ground in New York since his early teens, so it’s hard to remember when I first encountered him. It was almost certainly with the O’Farrill Brothers Band, featuring Adam on trumpet and his older sibling, Zack, on drums. They were carving out an identity separate and distinct from their father — the eminent pianist, composer and bandleader Arturo O’Farrill — while continuing to honor the Latin-jazz legacy of their birthright.
Wherever it was that I first heard Adam (on a regular gig in Brooklyn, probably at Puppets), I can tell you precisely when he stopped me in my tracks. This was at the 2015 Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, when he joined alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa to tackle the reconfigured bebop of Bird Calls. O’Farrill was about a week shy of turning 21. He carried himself, musically, like a gladiator.
Adam O’Farrill has only deepened his artistry since, in an array of settings. Maybe you know him from Mary Halvorson’s Amaryllis, recently named Group of the Year in the DownBeat Critics Poll. Maybe you’ve heard him in projects led by multi-reedist Anna Webber or piano phenom Hiromi. A decade ago, when he released Stranger Days, his debut as a leader, I reviewed it in the New York Times1 — praising it as “a potent declaration of independence, as much as it is a glowing indication of promise.”
Stranger Days, O’Farrill’s longtime band, has made a few more albums. Then last year, he expanded his palette on the excellent For These Streets, with collaborators like Halvorson and vibraphonist Patricia Brennan. He pares back down to a four-piece on his latest, Elephant, which will see release on Out of Your Head Records on March 20. But rather than a pianoless quartet with a trumpet-and-tenor front line, he’s working now with a full-scale rhythm section, featuring pianist Yvonne Rogers, bassist Walter Stinson and drummer Russell Holzman. This week the band will head out on tour in Europe, where they’ll play 13 cities in 16 days.
There’s a directness to Elephant, an unabashed commitment to clarity, that I think will carry its message to a wider audience than O’Farrill has engaged thus far. If that sounds like qualified praise, let me be clear: I also consider it one of the most artistically compelling statements of his career. We’re just a couple of months into 2026, but I’ve earmarked this one as a keeper. I’m sure I won’t be alone.
Earlier this month, O’Farrill passed through Philadelphia to perform with drummer Tyshawn Sorey in Members Don’t Git Weary, a tribute to Max Roach. The concert was unbelievably great, and I’ll have more to say about it soon. For our purposes here, you should know that right after soundcheck, Adam spared some time for me in an administrative office at the Annenberg Center For the Performing Arts. We talked about the social bonds in his new band; the inspirations behind his new book of tunes; the majestic terror of the ocean; and the surprising aesthetic insights he’s gleaned from working with Hiromi. I think you’ll enjoy this conversation, and I hope it points you toward the new album. Whatever the case, be sure to let me know.
Gift link! You’re welcome.
