{"product_id":"yussef-kamaal_black-focus_2016_lba","title":"Black focus","description":"First album by Yussef Kamaal, on BROWNSWOOD. For Yussef Kamaal, the sounds of the grimy, syncopated urban jungle that is London influenced their self-taught and fundamentally British approach to jazz. While in the United States the genre moved toward hip hop — from Robert Glasper to Kamasi Washington — reinventing itself within US culture, Yussef Kamaal, with Black Focus, takes jazz into the bass-saturated world of London pirate radio. Drawing inspiration from the spirit of 1970s jazz-funk found on albums by Herbie Hancock or the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the duo, composed of Yussef Dayes and Kamaal Williams, chose to break free from constraints to make room for experimentation, with a pronounced taste for the piano of Thelonious Monk or the rhythmic programming of Kaidi Tatham. Initially created for a solo performance by Williams for Boiler Room, the project quickly became more concrete: under the name Yussef Kamaal, the two partners began giving a series of concerts where only the chord progression was decided, just a few minutes before going on stage. Keeping this tacit understanding with them and taking it to the studio (with Malcolm Catto of The Heliocentrics at the helm), the immediate, almost improvised grooves of their live performances are now captured on record. Both originally from South East London. Dayes is a drummer for the afrobeat group United Vibrations, while Williams makes his way solo in house music with labels like 22a or Rhythm Section.","brand":"Yussef Kamaal","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57307672609112,"sku":null,"price":20161110.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0898\/4943\/0360\/files\/5060180322908.jpg?v=1779009941","url":"https:\/\/vinyles.com\/en\/products\/yussef-kamaal_black-focus_2016_lba","provider":"Vinyles.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}