A young man enters a subway station, feeling the gazes on him rather self-consciously, and looking for familiar faces. While his body is on the train, his mind is often elsewhere; picturing the woods and trees almost calling him in, and himself sprinting into solitude in nature. Though not all his experiences in the woods are pleasant, he still seems to enjoy a moment of clarity, before he gets to his destination and moves on with his day.
So goes the video of What Kinda Music, the title track from the joint album by drummer Yussef Dayes and fellow London musician Tom Misch.
Throughout the album, Dayes and Misch explore these nuances of the modern human experience, in both sound and video. The experimental album spans Misch’s comfort zone of trap/hip-hop beats, and Dayes’ jazz background, while pulling in influences from all around.
“Jazz is about a representation of the time,” says Dayes. And we have entered a time, “a place where jazz has that energy and people are catching onto it.”
Yussef Dayes preserves the spirit of jazz
Dayes’ caught his love of music from his vibrant household and cultural background. In his earlier years, Dayes teamed up with his brothers to perform with the Afro rock-influenced jazz band, United Vibrations. Next, Dayes collaborated in 2015 with his long-time acquaintance and keyboardist, Kamaal Williams, on the project that became known as Yussef Kamaal.
The following year, the duo released their LP, titled Black Focus, meshing fusion with distinctly British musical elements like grime, jungle and UK garage. For this, they won Best Breakthrough Act at the 2017 Jazz FM Awards.
In 2018, Dayes made his solo debut in spectacular fashion, releasing the 11-minute track “Love is the Message.” He recorded it live in a single take at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. The jam session, also featured producer Alfa Mist on piano, Mansur Brown on guitar and Rocco Palladino on bass.
The next year, Dayes followed up this performance with his solo project, DUALITY. This collaboration took an even further leap, teaming up with Louis Vuitton for the Paris Fashion Week. He also worked with Virgil Abloh, showcasing a sound installation at the Kaleidoscope Manifesto festival.
Family, South London and Black music shaped Yussef Dayes’ music
Born and raised in South East London, Dayes feels connected to his area, and proud of its talented population of musicians and drum and bass producers. He also took inspiration from his father, a Jamaican bass player who lived in New York City in the 1970s. Through him, Dayes was first “exposed to the whole jazz fusion scene,” and reggae.
By 3 years old, Dayes already had the beginnings of a drummer. He started by banging on pots and pans at home, and then, his parents gave him a drum kit.
“From there, it was non-stop. It was one of those things where you find your thing from early on.” The likes of Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters, Idris Muhammed, Max Roach – “that was my sound,” says Dayes. “But I suppose growing up in London, there was a lot of grime music and hip-hop that we were inspired by as well.”
Although he did not go to music school, he grew up around musicians. At age 10, he studied under Billy Cobham, Miles Davis’ drummer, for two years. Making music with his brothers, Ahmad, Jamal, and Kareem, prepared him for the many collaborative projects to come. That was “the foundation of where I started,” Dayes recalls.
Yussef Dayes seeks ever-expanding horizons
An experimental spirit drives Dayes. His latest example: the collaborative effort with South London breakout Tom Misch.
Oddly enough, the two first saw one another some 15 years ago at a talent show. Neither remembered, until they worked together years later. But in time, their jam sessions led to the new album, What Kinda Music.
“Yussef comes from a more experimental background, and he has a lot of loose, crazy ideas,” said Misch regarding the project. “I know how to write a catchy melody but with interesting chords.”
For Dayes, the album was just a new way of expanding his creative freedom through new challenges: “If you’re not working with people that are pushing you then it’s missing something.”
“Genres and stuff … I don’t really put things into boxes like that,” Dayes says, commenting on where What Kinda Music best fits. “For me, I’m inspired by Black music; that’s where I come from. It’s about letting people decipher for themselves what they want it to be.”
Listen to What Kind of Music here.
