One of the UK’s most exciting and innovative young drummers and producers, Yussef Dayes has been deeply involved in jazz as long as he can remember. Best known for work with his brothers in United Vibrations, and also as one half of electrifying duo Yussef Kamaal, he’s been developing his sound since age four when his dad bought him his first drum kit.
 
Born and raised in South East London, as a kid Yussef was practicing non-stop: “My parents were strict – if I was gonna do this, I had to take it seriously.” His father was a bass player in New York in the 70s, and brought home an education’s worth of jazz vinyl that the Dayes brothers all grew-up on – Yussef and his bassist brother Kareem would play along to their dad’s records for hours at a time. This was the closest he got to formal jazz lessons until, when he was ten, he studied under Billy Cobham (Miles Davis’ drummer). Yussef considers this to have been the most impactful thing for his progression.
 
At school, many of Yussef’s peers were aspiring MCs, and he considers grime and hip-hop heavily influential to his output: “That same energy and those different flows, I put into my drums.” Add to this his Jamaican father’s reggae collection, his late mother’s love of the Beatles and country, and his brother Ahmad producing jungle tracks, Yussef says: “there was good music in every room” – and this breadth of taste, blended with sounds found while travelling (notably time spent in Senegal) is audible in his exhilarating combination of sounds.
 
These varied influences would be put into a live setting from a young age – from ten years old he was playing shows with his brothers and their friend Wayne Francis II in an afrobeat and rock-influenced spiritual jazz group. Then, cementing him as one of the need-to-know artists in the UK scene, it was in 2015 that Yussef Kamaal was born. A duo with fellow Londoner Kamaal Williams, their 2016 album Black Focus, with its dancefloor sensibilities and funk-infused breakbeats, would become one of the most heralded jazz records of recent times, melding UK sounds with those of the US scene. Certified silver, the album won the duo the 2017 Jazz FM award for Best Breakthrough Act. With their rapturous shows, both groups have helped hone Yussef’s thrilling, rapid-fire live presence (he refers to it as an alter-ego, “the beast” that takes over when he’s playing).
 
2018 saw the release of ‘Love Is The Message’ - Yussef’s transcendental first solo track, self-released on Cashmere Thoughts. Following this in 2019, Yussef’s solo journey continued to flourish releasing an AA single entitled DUALITY, consisting of ‘For My Ladies’ and ‘Othello’.
 
A testament to the breadth and scope of his work in 2019, Yussef sound tracked and curated the Louis Vuitton dinner show for Paris Men’s Fashion Week in January 2019, collaborating with none other than Virgil Abloh and Benji B.
 
Currently, in 2020, Yussef and fellow South East London musician Tom Misch have released their joint album entitled What Kinda Music, distributed on legendary jazz label, Blue Note. The album curated by drummer and singer-songwriter expresses music’s ability to tick the boxes of all-genres and to appeal to an incredibly vast audience. The album has gained much global success including reaching #4 in the UK Official Charts, #1 Current Contemporary Jazz Album in the US Billboard Charts and #52 Album in the US Billboard Charts.
 
With a solo album in the pipeline, Yussef says working solo allows him to be free: uncompromising in choices of sounds and collaborators. He’s running with that freedom, working on multiple projects as a producer and player with some of the key names in the UK jazz scene and beyond.
 
It’s an exciting time ahead, with more of those soaring, epic, and intricate soundscapes that don’t sound quite like anything else to come. “Drumming is a way of communicating and expressing yourself”, he says – and in 2020, there’s no doubt Yussef Dayes is going to be the one leading the conversation.

The second annual presentation of Studio Sound—a performance series that champions artists and musicians whose work engages new possibilities for sound and music—will feature interdisciplinary artist and writer Sable Elyse Smith. Exploring auditory art forms through both live and recorded performance, this ongoing series suggests an expanded history of art in which sound plays a central role.

Smith’s work draws from the legacy of Conceptual art, using video, sculpture, photography, text, and now sound to confront the mundane and pervasive impacts of systemic oppression. At MoMA, Smith will present a new musical composition and video installation in the form of an opera, with ticketed performances and an installation on view during Museum hours. Part of a larger ongoing project, this work tells a story of queer love between two Black women set in a surreal environment. Unfolding across multiple scenes, the performance explores the political, collective, and dramatic potential of the voice as well as the ways in which language dissolves through sonic expression.

Organized by Martha Joseph, The Phyllis Ann and Walter Borten Assistant Curator of Media and Performance, with May Makki, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Media and Performance. Performances produced by Lizzie Gorfaine, Associate Director and Producer, with Nora Chellew, Assistant Performance Coordinator, Performance and Live Programs.

BAM’s corner of Fort Greene transforms into a pulsing celebration of community, discovery, and collective joy at this beloved annual festival. We join with longtime neighbors, first-time visitors, the DanceAfrica Council of Elders, and our partners at Weeksville Heritage Center and The Billie Holiday Theater (formerly Restoration Arts) to create the nation’s largest festival of African dance—and Brooklyn’s unofficial start of summer. Featuring the iconic outdoor bazaar, traditional dance and music from Cameroon, classes, workshops, late-night dance parties, and FilmAfrica’s lineup of cinematic gems, this can’t-miss cultural celebration electrifies Brooklyn for a 47th year.

BJ The Chicago Kid

It's been a long time coming for BJ the Chicago Kid, and not just because, after four mixtapes and one indie classic, he's now dropping his major-label debut on Motown, the modern yet deeply soulful 'In My Mind.' You've been hearing his voice everywhere though, on the songs by some of the greatest artists of our era (punctuating tracks by Dr. Dre, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, Kehlani and ScHoolboy Q's Grammy Award-nominated smash "Studio."). Notable Collaborations include Vic Mensa, Chance The Rapper, Dom Kennedy, Freddie Gibbs, Ty Dolla $ign, Xzibit and, most recently, OG Maco, Joey Bada$$ and Hannibal Burress. But go back even farther and you'll find BJ was fated for this life. Bryan James Sledge cooed his first note to an audience when he was five years old. His mom was a choir director and his whole family was in the congregation: BJ the youngest of three boys who all sang on Sunday. Yet outside was the constant backbeat of his youth: trunk music, rap and old school soul, the same thump that he'd hear falling asleep at night, and at the whole-block cookouts that happened every Saturday. His dad, though also a choir director, exposed him to that secular inspiration firsthand. By night his father did concert security, and he took his boy to gigs. Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation Tour (the one with the panther) changed BJ forever, and the experience got swirled up with the stuff he heard at home: the Chi-Lites, Luther, Curtis, even Babyface. The kid wrote his first song as a teen. He'd been focused on drums, and you can still hear that in the way his voice clings to the pocket, but, as happens, he caught feelings for a girl and wrote a poem about it. Producer Kevin Randolph, a family friend, saw promise in BJ's pen and mentored him in the ways of song. And when it was time, he helped BJ secure his ticket to Los Angeles. That first job, singing backup with gospel duo Mary Mary, led to studio time (vocals, songwriting) with Lalah Hathaway, Musiq Soulchild, Joe, Mario, and Mary J. Blige, among others. In 2005 alone he went into the booth with Stevie Wonder and onto the Grammy stage with Usher and James Brown. A year later came the big one: Kanye West's "Impossible" for "Mission: Impossible III." It's understandable if you've heard BJ and not known it — the man's melody is classic and his voice is elastic; he sounds like a sample. But he proved his knack for present-day soul on 2012's self-released album, 'Pineapple Now-Laters,' a diverse collection of songs that moved from a cappella excellence to swaggy rap 'n' blues to the heartfelt "His Pain," featuring Kendrick Lamar. Call it a favor returned — BJ's on Lamar's 2009 EP, and works with the whole T.D.E. family. ScHoolboy Q's single "Studio" followed, capping an impressive run of collaborations with West Coast legends like Warren G and Xzibit, and Chicago new-schoolers like Chance the Rapper and Vic Mensa. BJ's 'M.A.F.E. Project' tape in 2014 broadcast the message: "Music Ain't for Everyone." Of course, BJ was destined for the winner's circle, and just as he came up in a supportive Chicago 'hood, he's been building up his music community steadily. He even pitched in on Dr. Dre's long-awaited Compton on the way to now, but it's his time to shine, and for fans of all those guys to realize they've been fans of BJ all along. 'In My Mind' is the first true open door to his world, to a place where the Bible comes first, but Belly might be second. Where blunts burn and oxtails simmer. It's a window into the psyche of a soul man who watches Tom & Jerry regularly, but keeps up with the bangers from around the way. This man who sings "Church" — with a hook that so perfectly illustrates the line he walks: "She said she wanna drink, do drugs, and have sex tonight/But I got church in the morning" — is not so far removed from the so-called kid raised on the Windy City's South Side. Most of all, 'In My Mind' is a set of staggeringly great songs from a man who knows The Classics as well as he does The Now. Take his James Brown flip, "Woman's World," where vintage sound meets modern perspective. Or "Heart Crush," which connects a timeless sentiment (fast love's slow fizzle) with an atmospheric, alt-R&B sound. There's the steamy stuff like "Turnin Me Up," which finds BJ channeling both D'Angelo and Marvin Gaye while leading his live band. And romantic fare like "Shine," a piano ballad tailor-made to weaken knees on deployment. "New Cupid," especially, crisscrosses generation and genre with ease, borrowing the iconic "Oh yeah!" from "Mr. Big Stuff," sampling a Raphael Saadiq cut, and featuring a heartbroken Lamar. 'In My Mind' transcends basic classification — it's as imaginative as its title implies, but as real BJ the Chicago Kid's love for this music.

City Winery Presents Black Violin: The Experience Tour live in concert on April 2nd at 8pm

For nearly two decades, Black Violin has been merging string arrangements with modern beats and vocals and building bridges in communities along the way. Members Kev Marcus and Wil Baptiste first met in orchestra class at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, becoming classically trained on the violin and viola through their high school and college careers. Post-college, they reconvened to produce beats for South Florida rappers, and began building an audience in local clubs. They later went on to win Showtime at the Apollo in 2005, and eventually sold out headline performances at venues across the country, including a sold out two-night headline run at The Kennedy Center in 2018. NPR took note and declared “their music will keep classical music alive for the next generation.” Black Violin’s 2019 album release, Take the Stairs, earned a Grammy Award nomination for “Best Contemporary Instrumental Album”. The band also recently received their second ever Grammy Award nomination for the track “The Message” as Best Americana Performance, in collaboration with The Blind Boys of Alabama.

Black Violin has plays roughly 200 shows a year; many of which are performances for young, low-income students in urban communities. In the last year alone, the group has played for over 100,000 students with the goal of challenging stereotypes and preconceived notions of what a “classical musician” looks and sounds like.  “The stereotypes are always there, embedded so deep in our culture,” says Wil. “Just by nature of our existence we challenge those ideas. It’s a unique thing that brings people together who aren’t usually in the same room, and in the current climate, it’s good to bring people together.”

Corinne Bailey Rae

English singer/songwriter/musician Corinne Bailey Rae shot to stardom with her self-titled #1 U.K. debut album in 2006, featuring the global hits “Put Your Records On” and “Like A Star.” Over the course of her career she has released three critically acclaimed studio albums—Corinne Bailey Rae, The Sea and The Heart Speaks in Whispers—and earned two Grammy Awards, two MOBOS, and has been nominated for multiple awards including the BRIT Awards, Mercury Music Prize and BET Awards. Her work for film and television includes the theme to Stan Lee’s Lucky Man (SKY1), “The Scientist” for Universal Pictures’ Fifty Shades Darker opening title and soundtrack which charted globally, and in 2020 her song “New to Me” was performed in the film The High Note by Tracee Ellis Ross. Bailey Rae has collaborated with a wide range of artists including Mary J. Blige, Al Green, Herbie Hancock, KING, Paul McCartney, Kele Okereke (Bloc Party), Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Questlove, Salaam Rami, RZA, Tyler The Creator, Paul Weller, Richard Hawley, Stevie Wonder, Tracey Thorn, Pharrell, Logic, Mick Jenkins and many more.

Slum Village

Chances are, if you are anywhere near the Detroit music scene, you have heard of the influential hip hop trio that makes up Slum Village. The group was founded in the early 90's by 3 childhood friends: Baatin, T3, rapper and producer Jay Dee a.k.a. J Dilla, who all grew up together in the Conant Gardens neighborhood of Detroit, MI. After leaving Pershing High School, the trio began to forge a path into the Detroit underground hip hop scene and quickly found themselves steadily gaining popularity, where they originally went by the name Ssenepod. Dopeness spelled backwards.

In 1991 changed their name to Slum Village, recording demos which turned into their first album Vol. 1", released in 1996 on cassette which was recorded in J Dilla’s basement and RJ Rice Studios which landed Slum Village their first record deal in 1998 with Barak.

In 2000, J Dilla made the decision to leave the group to pursue his solo career, but still hung around helping his portage Young RJ with production. Baatin and T3 started work on their next album "Trinity" through Barak/Capital Records (2002). This album would feature their first commercial single "Tainted" which ft an unknown Dwele.

In 2001, “Dirty District”, a compilation of songs by Detroit rappers largely produced by T3 and Young RJ, was released, on Barak Records.
2002 Trinity included hit song “Tainted”
2004 album, “Detroit Deli” (A Taste of Detroit), (Barak Records/ Capitol), the album included the hit single “Selfish” produced by Kanye West, featuring John Legend.
2005, the release of “Prequel To a Classic”, a mix tape with production from Young RJ and Black Milk also releasing their Self Titled album Slum Village on Barak Records.
In 2009, Slum started production on their next album, “Villa Manifesto” on Neastra Music.
In 2010, the album "Villa Manifesto" was released under Ne'astra Music / Koch Records.
2011/2012 Slum Village new mixtape “Dirty Slums Vol. 1 & Vol. 2” presented by DJ Mick Boogie featuring artist such as Rapper Big Pooh, De La Soul, Focus, Skyzoo, Phonte, and Phife, having over 300,000 downloads on Ne’astra Music.
2013/2014 “B-Sides” and Vintage albums were released on Neastra Music
2015/2016 “YES” was released, produced by Jay Dee a.k.a. J. Dilla and Young RJ (Ne’astra Music).
2018 Slum’s new release titled “Lost Scrolls Vol. 2” is slated for release April 20, 2018
Containing lost music and mixed from their critically acclaimed album “Fantastic Vol. 2”, performed by the original Trio. (Neastra Music)
2023 Slum Village / Larry June / The Dramatics single “Just Like You”
2024  Single  “Request”
 
Slum Village continues their journey with their Longest Line Up (12 yrs.), with invigorated energy as T3 and Grammy nominated producer Young RJ hold down the legacy.

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER HONORS BLACK HISTORY

Since its inception, Jazz at Lincoln Center has fostered community around music that emerged from the Black experience in America. We believe that jazz is Black history.

This February, we’re proud to take part in Black History Month with select performances and virtual experiences that salute Black excellence. Through events that examine the music’s legacy, its capacity for celebration, and its progression, we honor this music’s evolving permanence in American culture.

VIEW BLACK HISTORY MONTH EVENTS