// Essential Listening

This 2023 album may be Yussef Dayes debut album but the heralded English drummer is no novice. From his various live ensembles, to his vaunted work as one half of Yussef Kamaal, to his acclaimed collaboration with singer-guitarist Tom Misch – Dayes has been making waves in the UK jazz scene for a while now. But Black Classical Music is Dayes first record as a solo artist and bandleader, giving the listener the purest insight into his versatile vision and astonishing craft.

Through 19 sprawling tracks, Dayes weaves complex tapestries – ranging from post-bop, fusion and R&B to dancehall, highlife and dub – that survey the myriad of musical traditions birthed from the pan-African diaspora. Black Classical Music isnt simply dazzling for the sake of showmanship, the expansive compositions featured within are as soulful as they are inventive. –

Black Classical Music is celebrated multi-instrumentalist and visionary artist Yussef Dayes’ highly anticipated debut solo studio album, released via the revered Brownswood Recordings.Dayes introducesBlack Classical Music in his own words: “What is jazz? Where did the word derive from? Birthed in New Orleans, born in the belly of the Mississippi River, rooted in the gumbo pot of the Caribbean, South American culture & African rituals. Continuing a lineage of Miles Davis, Rahssan Roland kirk, Nina Simone, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong ~ music that is forever evolving & limitless in its potential. The groove, its feeling, the compositions, the spontaneity, with a love for family, the discipline & dedication in maintaining the very high bar set by the pantheon of Black classical musicians. Chasing the rhythm of drums that imitated one’s heartbeat, the melodies for the mind and spirit, the bass for the core. A regal sound for this body of music.”

Black Classical Music is Dayes’ 19 track debut solo studio album. At every turn, Dayes distinctive drum licks and Rocco Palladinos bass are the sturdy anchors; aided by Charlie Stacey (keys/synths), Venna (saxophone), Alexander Bourt (percussion), and a whole host of honourable features including: Chronixx, Masego, Jamilah Barry, Tom Misch, Elijah Fox, Shabaka Hutchings, Miles James, Sheila Maurice Grey, Nathaniel Cross, Theon Cross and the Chineke! Orchestra, the first professional orchestra in Europe to be made up of majority Black and ethnically diverse musicians.

Yussef Dayes discography is expansive and wide reaching; his rise can be first linked to the Afrocentric quartet, United Vibrations, alongside his two brothers – Ahmad and Kareem – and saxophonist, Wayne Francis. This was followed by the meteorically sucessful, but short-lived duo Yussef Kamaal, with keyboardist Kamaal Williams. More recently, Dayes released Live At Joshua Tree, an EP presented by Soulection, and other solo releases including the live album Welcome To The Hills and Love Is The Message, which was recorded Live at Abbey Road Studios.

His list of collaborators is ever-growing and has blossomed to include the finest talents across both music and fashion. From 2020s album What Kinda Music, a collaboration with Tom Misch released on Blue Note Records which charted in the Top 5, to an official remix of Pa Salieus Frontline, on Wizkids Made In Lagos album, plus production for R&B royalty in Kali Uchis and Kehlani and 2022s joint release with Soulection entitled Live At Joshua Tree. The late Louis Vuitton innovator, Virgil Abloh, hand-picked Yussef to soundtrack and curate the LV dinner show for Paris Mens Fashion Week in January 2019, as well as having Dayes perform at the Louis Vuitton Museum in Paris and collaborating on many other projects. (via Label)

Drummer, composer, and producer Yussef Dayes is a veteran of London’s diverse jazz scene. His M.O. weds polystylistic variations with electronica, funk, soul, Afrobeat, and reggae. His ranging rsum playing with other artists – Yussef Kamaal, Ruby Rushton, Emanative, Alfa Mist, etc. – provides the aesthetic background for the sprawling, 19-track, Black Classical Music, Dayes’ studio debut. It is a culmination of his aesthetic travels, and points squarely at his goal: a seamless musical whole. Right after he and Tom Misch issued the What Kinda Music in 2020, Dayes’ trio released the live Welcome to the Hills. He followed with 2022’s Experience: Live at Joshua Tree. His rsum frames creative ground for Black Classical Music – Dayes’ debut sums up his aesthetic travels and points toward an integrative, equanimous whole. His band includes bassist Rocco Palladino, keyboardist Charlie Stacey, saxophonist Malik Venna, percussionist Alex Bourt, and a large guest list that includes Shabaka Hutchings, Masego, Misch, Chineke! Orchestra, and others.

The record streams across atmospheres, stylistically and sonically. The title-track single is introduced by Venna’s saxophone, Stacey’s piano, and Dayes’ frenetic drumming, Palladino enters and zeroes in, bridging mercurial post-bop with modal jazz, Afro-Latin percussion and ambient sonics. It segues into “Afro Cubanism,” which adds an elastic spiritual dimension to modal Latin jazz. Hutchings guests on “Raisins Under the Sun.” Its balance of reeds and brass (tubist Theon Cross, trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Grey, trombonist Nathaniel Cross) in the frontline are prodded by a rumbling, hypnotic bassline, bubbling congas, and a lilting melody joining Latin, Caribbean, and African harmonies and rhythms, as Rhodes piano pulses in the foreground. “Rust,” with Misch, is led by Palladino amid breaking snares, with wordless chorus vocals and drifting keys magically melding contemporary jazz and progressive soul. It segues into the spacy, nocturnal fusion of “Turquoise Galaxy” then dissolves into blissful ambient jazz-funk on “The Light.” The set title is underscored magnificently by “Magnolia Symphony,” performed by Chineke! Orchestra. “Gelato” joins steamy dub bass, shimmering keys, and percussion to silvery contemporary jazz, subtle polyrhythms, and Venna’s soprano sax fills. “Marching Band” delivers a resonant, sensual, R&B vocal from Masego. “Jukebox,” a sublime exercise in bass-driven jazz-funk is, unfortunately, all too brief. Jamaican reggae singer Chronixx lends his iconic lover’s rock vocal to the tender “Pon di Plaza.” “Woman’s Touch,” featuring Jamilah Barry, is a mercurial meld of jazz phrasing, contemporary soul, and slinky polyrhythms. “Tioga Pass” is a gorgeous feature for Palladino. His bass playing here recalls Jaco Pastorius’ in its ability to signify and institute changes in tempo, mode, and rhythm without stylistic disruption. Sweeping strings, Stacey’s piano, and percussive interplay between Dayes and Bourt fall around Palladino, who traverses groove jazz, progressive, polished R&B, and elegant funk.

For all its ambitious creativity, Black Classical Music offers a focused, multivalent story at once autobiographical, cultural, and social. The music is lush, advanced, and welcoming, and comes off without a trace of bloat or conceit. This is easily a top pick for best albums of 2023. (via AllMusic)

Label: Brownswood Recordings
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album
Released: 2023
Genre: Jazz, Hip Hop
Style: Afrobeat, Contemporary Jazz, Jazz-Funk

File under: Modern / Future Jazz