Artist: Yussef Dayes
Album: Black Classical Music
Genre: Afrobeat, Contemporary Jazz, Jazz-Funk
Label: Brownswood Recordings
Released: 2023
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue)
Tracklist:
- Black Classical Music (feat. Venna & Charlie Stacey) (5:19)
- Afro Cubanism (2:45)
- Raisins Under the Sun (feat. Shabaka Hutchings) (4:32)
- Rust (feat. Tom Misch) (3:59)
- Turquoise Galaxy (3:12)
- The Light (feat. Bahia Dayes) (5:41)
- Pon di Plaza (feat. Chronixx) (3:50)
- Magnolia Symphony (1:37)
- Early Dayes (0:34)
- Chasing the Drum (5:40)
- Birds of Paradise (4:09)
- Gelato (4:47)
- Marching Band (feat. Masego) (4:44)
- Crystal Palace Park (feat. Elijah Fox) (2:32)
- Presidential (feat. Jahaan Sweet) (2:43)
- Jukebox (2:39)
- Woman's Touch (feat. Jamilah Barry) (3:32)
- Tioga Pass (feat. Rocco Palladino) (7:56)
- Cowrie Charms (feat. Leon Thomas & Barbara Hicks) (3:52)
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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 résumé 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 résumé 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.
Review by Thom Jurek