Originally from Accra in Ghana and currently based in Rotterdam, trumpeter Peter Somuah a bridge-builder between cultures and continents. “Jazz at its most international”, notes the BBC. For the globetrotting Peter Somuah, musical influences from geographically distant cultures are always just a step away. This is precisely what his new album Walking Distance, released on ACT is about. Peter Somuah learned to play by listening endlessly to his trumpet heroes Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard and Roy Hargrove. Somuah stands out with his warm and melancholic sound, as well as the rhythmic prowess reflecting his upbringing surrounded by the music styles native to West Africa. He touches his audiences and makes them groove.
In 2021 Somuah won the Erasmus Jazz award for young jazz talent, and in 2022 he won the prestigious Edison Jazz Award with his debut album Outer Space. In June 2024, Somuah worked on a project with the WDR Big Band playing his own compositions, arranged and conducted by the musical cosmopolitan Michael Mossman.
In his compositions, Somuah explores the boundaries between jazz, funk, soul, and traditional Ghanaian music, sprinkled with a hint of electronic music. He has performed his music at many stages already, including at the North Sea Jazz Festival, ESNS, the Turku Jazz Festival, the Jazzbaltica, and the Blue Note Beijing and Shanghai.
