Black Focus

Taking inspiration from the anything-goes spirit of ‘70s jazz-funk, the pair, made up of Yussef Dayes and Kamaal Williams (aka Henry Wu) spawn the grooves from the energy of their live shows into a bass-saturated series of top tier arrangements. - Hunter

The borders between London's musical tribes have always been porous. For Yussef Kamaal, the sound of the capital - with it's hum of jungle, grime and broken beat - has shaped a self-taught, UK tipped approach to playing jazz. In the states, the genre's long-running to-and-fro with hip hop - from Robert Glasper to Kamasi Washington - has reimagined it with in US culture. On Black Focus, Yussef Kamaal frame jazz inside the bass-saturated, pirate radio broadcasts of London. The pair, made up of Yussef Dayes and Kamaal Williams (aka Henry Wu), have had little in the way of formal training. Instead, their musical tastes - and approach to playing - are indebted to Thelonious Monk's piano as much as the drum programming of Kaidi Tatham.

 Tracklisting

1. Black Focus
2. Strings of Light
3. Remembrance
4. Yo Chavez
5. Ayla
6. O.G
7. Lowrider
8. Mansur's Message
9. Wingtai Drums
10. Joint 17