The Yussef Dayes Experience — Live From Malibu, California, 2023

Live footage filmed in Malibu, California, in 2023, this Live From Malibu set captures The Yussef Dayes Experience in a striking natural setting, built around the album Black Classical Music. A London drummer and leading figure of the new British jazz scene, Yussef Dayes unfurls fluid, polyrhythmic playing that draws on Afro-Caribbean heritage, spiritual jazz and nu-jazz. He is joined by Rocco Palladino on bass, Venna on saxophone, Elijah Fox on keys and synthesizer, and Alexander Bourt on congas and percussion, a line-up built around organic grooves and collective breathing space. The programme moves through Istanbul, Tioga Pass, Tidal Wave, a reading of Portrait of Tracy and SWV’s Rain dedicated to Jaco Pastorius, then Black Classical Music, Afro Cubanism, Malibu, Mountain Steppa and The Colour Purple. Directed by German Vizcarra and produced by Cashmere Thoughts and Brownswood, the full concert treats image and sound with equal care, foregrounding the interplay between musicians. This live document is an ideal entry point into a living, adventurous contemporary jazz, deeply rooted in groove, where improvisation converses with written compositions and immersive sonic landscapes drawn from the coastal scenery around them.