New Orleans trumpeter, composer Christian Scott has accumulated a lot of praise and attention since the release of Stretch Music last September. One of the most prestigious recognition came on Monday when he was named Rising Star Composer in the 64th DownBeat Critics Poll.

Scott’s intricate, innovative and all-inclusive style of composition is central to the musical concept of stretch music that he introduced in the album. In an interview with OffBeat, he explains: “We have a myriad of ways we [tear down boundaries]. Like on ‘Sunrise in Beijing,’ I wanted to use that palindromic rhythm that traditional Chinese music uses and mix it with Elvin Jones’ drumming with Coltrane when Trane was blending jazz and Asian music. But when I’m in Beijing or Hong Kong, most of the musicians there are real beatheads; they’re listening to more hip-hop than jazz. So we chopped off one part of an Elvin rhythm and stuck it on the end of another phrase like a hip-hop mix.”

Bassist Luques Curtis and flutist Elena Pinderhughes who were featured on Stretch Music also made the Rising Star list in the 2016 Critics Poll.

One other Louisiana artist was recognized this year. Monroe native Hamid Drake — whose collaborations with saxophonist Kidd Jordan make up a pillar of New Orleans’ improvised music scene — won the award for Percussion.