Yussef Kamaal

Yussef Kamaal is a UK jazz group from the United Kingdom, active between 2015 and 2017, made up of Yussef Dayes, Kamaal Williams, Mansur Brown and Tom Driessler. The group is associated with jazz, and its sound draws on London’s jazz scene alongside broken beat, jungle and grime, with an emphasis on jazz-funk and improvisation.

Formation and early context

The project grows out of a one-off live session set up to perform Kamaal Williams’ solo material for Boiler Room. That session develops into a separate group, and Yussef Kamaal goes on to play a series of live shows built around limited pre-arrangement and spontaneous interaction on stage. Dayes and Williams first meet as teenagers in 2007, when they are playing pub gigs in Peckham and Camberwell in South East London.

Music and approach

The group’s music centres on drums and keys, with Williams and Dayes working from a small amount of harmonic material and allowing the arrangements to unfold during performance. Both members have little formal training, and their approach reflects influences from jazz pianists and drummers as well as London’s club traditions. The music is framed by the bass-heavy atmosphere of pirate radio culture in London and the rhythmic openness associated with 1970s jazz-funk.

The group’s style also sits within a wider conversation between jazz and hip hop, while taking inspiration from artists such as Herbie Hancock, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Thelonious Monk and Kaidi Tatham. The emphasis is on flow rather than fixed arrangement, and the recorded material keeps much of the raw energy associated with the live performances.

Recording

Yussef Kamaal’s recording sessions are engineered by Malcolm Catto of The Heliocentrics. The tracks are put together with a strong sense of spontaneity, with one player laying down a few chords and the other building a groove around them.

Members and related activity

Yussef Dayes also drums for United Vibrations, an afrobeat-influenced group with a cosmic lean. Kamaal Williams, who also performs as Henry Wu, plays drums and keys across different projects and releases solo house 12-inch singles on labels including 22a and Rhythm Section.

Black Focus

The group’s work is associated with Black Focus, which places jazz within the sound world of London club culture and improvised jazz-funk. The record reflects the group’s mix of live spontaneity, South East London roots and the open-ended structure that defines their performances.