Summer Music Series at Duck Creek

The Arts Center at Duck Creek’s 2023 Music Series brings together a diverse array of groundbreaking musicians chosen by Adam O’Farrill, a gifted trumpeter, composer and Duck Creek alum. Each act is marked by a fearless ability to fuse a unique cultural heritage, influences and musical traditions with contemporary jazz. O’Farrill comes from a rich musical background. His grandfather was the Afro-Cuban-Irish composer and arranger Chico O’Farrill, and his father is the cultural boundary-pushing composer and pianist Arturo O’Farrill.

“La Manga: (Sunday, June 4, 4 p.m.) is a Brooklyn-based cultural identity laboratory inspired by the spirit of the modern and ancestral people of the Colombian Caribbean coast. This collective of women artists honors Black and Indigenous oral traditions by engaging the power of Afro-Colombian percussion.

Albert Marques and Keith LaMar “Freedom First” (Saturday, June 17, 5 p.m.). Keith Lamar is a Cleveland-born poet, writer and activist who has spent over 28 years in solitary confinement on death row for a crime he didn’t commit. He is scheduled for execution in November 2023. The Freedom First project began in 2020 around the time of George Floyd’s murder, with dozens of musicians on the streets of New York playing the jazz standards that LaMar says helped him survive solitary. Freedom First is also the title of LaMar’s upcoming album, conceived and produced by pianist Albert Marquès, and the first album in history by an artist on death row.

Adam O’Farrill’s “Stranger Days” (Saturday, July 1, 5 p.m.). This season’s curator, and award-winning trumpeter and composer, Adam O’Farrill brings his quartet Stranger Days to the stage on July 4th weekend. The Wall Street Journal wrote of their most recent album, “Mr. O’Farrill’s music is refined and discreet; it integrates aspects of art rock and contemporary classical music and boasts a cinematic influence.” It was also listed as one of the best albums of 2021 by The New York Times and The Boston Globe.

Kassa Overall (Saturday, July 8, 5 p.m.). Kassa Overall is a Grammy-nominated musician, emcee, singer, producer, and drummer who melds avant-garde experimentation with hip-hop production techniques to tilt the nexus of jazz and rap in unmapped directions. Kassa is always moving: between different expressive forms, the personal and the political, while keeping a balance between accessibility and entertainment.

Rajna Swaminathan (Saturday, August 5, 5 p.m.). Rajna Swaminathan is an acclaimed mrudangam artist, composer and scholar. Swaminathan collaborates with musicians from the jazz world, but her music is deeply rooted in the sound and language of the mrudangam drum. Harmonically, her performances meld South Indian music and its spiritual and religious elements with Western traditions.

Kaoru Watanabe (Saturday, August 19, 5 p.m.). Composer and musician Kaoru Watanabe’s work is grounded in traditional Japanese music while drawing on his background in Western classical music and as a jazz flutist and saxophonist. Recent projects include: orchestral soloist and composer with the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House; advisor, composer, and featured musician on the Oscar-nominated score of Wes Anderson’s film “Isle of Dogs”; and guest artist on the Silk Road Ensemble’s Grammy Award-winning album “Sing Me Home.”

Anna Webber Quintet (Saturday, September 9, 5 p.m.). Anna Webber is a flutist, saxophonist, and composer who takes an immersive approach to music. Living between avant-garde jazz and new classical music, she welcomes her audience in and then takes them in unexpected directions. Her attention is on the fundamentals of her instruments — starting with simple ideas and then dissecting, reshaping, and flipping them on their head.

Mali Obomsawin Sextet (Saturday, September 23, 4 p.m.) Mali Obomsawin is an award-winning bassist, songwriter, and composer from Abenaki First Nation at Odanak, merging music traditions, by immersing Abenaki First Nation elements in a jazz context. Obomsawin is also a community organizer and advocate for Indigenous rights, environmental justice and landback.

Concert audience members are encouraged to bring a beach chair, a picnic and enjoy the music. All events are free, but space and parking are limited, so arrive early. Concerts are weather dependent and some programs may require a reservation. Check the website, duckcreekarts.org, for updates. The Arts Center at Duck Creek is at 127 Squaw Road in East Hampton.