Listen to the bassist’s new album for International Anthem while reading a brilliant Tiffany Ng essay on curation. “As we grow accustomed to the convenience of shuffling a […]
Watch: The Yussef Dayes Experience Live in Malibu
Feel like watching an A+ drummer let loose? On Friday, British musician Yussef Dayes released the second in a series of live sets, Live in Malibu, to streaming services and on vinyl. Shot for a YouTube special, the recording follows a similar set and video made by his Yussef Dayes Experience in Joshua Tree last year.
That Joshua Tree set was a teaser to advance Black Classical Music, his stellar 2023 album of percussion-fueled new-build jazz, the kind that the London scene has been producing at a jaw-dropping clip for the past decade. Live in Malibu, by contrast, arrives as a kind of victory lap after the attention given to Black Classical Music.
Dayes told the Guardian in October that he named the record Black Classical Music as a way to further a conversation started by artists including Nina Simone, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Miles Davis regarding jazz’s place in culture. Historically considered by white snobs to be a lesser art form than classical music, the artists refuted that racist positioning.
“[T]o call it J-A-Z-Z all the time, that’s cool, but there are other ways to articulate what we’re doing,” Dayes said. “There are so many nuances that can’t be defined by one thing. I’ve had classical piano lessons. I’ve been to west Africa and seen instruments that predate the cello and violin, drums that were there before timpani. There are other histories that made me realise this is bigger than just a jazz record.”
Live in Malibu was released by Gilles Peterson’s label Brownswood Recordings (and distributed in the US by Nonesuch), which has been central to the UK jazz scene since 2006. In 2016, the label issued Black Focus by Yussef Kamaal, a duo consisting of Dayes and keyboardist Kamaal Williams. Like the title of that album, Brownswood’s philosophy involves emphasizing Black music, and the label’s statement of purpose offers lessons in the ways to amplify that focus: “Brownswood is committed to playing our part in helping to create a better music industry and as a result we hope to contribute to supporting a fairer and more equal society,” reads the opening sentence of that blueprint. It continues:
We all know that the music industry in which we operate has serious and long entrenched problems. Structural racism, toxic masculinity, few pathways for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, poor mental health, and a lack of boundaries around work / life balance are all rife. We aim to create a space where we try to do things differently. We want to prove another type of industry is possible, where art and culture is properly valued, businesses can operate with transparency and integrity and each person can be their authentic self without fear of discrimination.
As the Live in Malibu set attests, the philosophy obviously works. Dayes and band are hitting some sort of peak right now, the evidence of which can be found in the above fan-made video from the Yussef Dayes Experience’s recent gig in Mexico City. Part of a January tour that also took them to Brazil for dates in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janiero, and Salvador (Bahia), the band’s revelatory take on “Strings of Light” is something to behold.
Yussef Dayes ~ Drums
Rocco Palladino ~ Bass
Venna ~ Saxophone
Elijah Fox ~ Keys & Synthesizer
Alexander Bourt ~ Congas & Percussion