Copenhagen Jazz Festival 2022

The concert has finished

Yussef Dayes certainly is one of the UK’s most exciting and innovative young drummers and producers. He is best known for his work with his brothers in United Vibrations, and also as one half of electrifying duo Yussef Kamaal. In 2020, with his fellow South East London musician Tom Misch, they released What Kinda Music on legendary jazz label, Blue Note, and in 2021 followed Yussef Dayes’ live experience LP “Welcome To The Hills”. The British drummer is accompanied by Rocco Palladino (bass) and Charlie Stacey (keys/synthesis) in a work recorded at Copenhagen Jazz Festival in 2019.

Welcome To The Hills was recorded in Copenhagen in 2019, in what was to be the trio’s final performance before the pandemic: “There was something special about this performance … The raw energy, focus, determination & freedom to take our music to the next level. It feels more right than ever to release this live recording, as there have been no shows this year … So we want to give you, the listener, the chance to participate and enter the Yussef Dayes trio live experience.” explains the group. In this 12-track project (the vinyl is sold at high prices on Discogs, but the music is available on streaming platforms too), Yussef Dayes declares: “These songs are the spirituals I swam with against the waves.”

Born and raised in South East London, Yussef Dayes has been developing his sound since age four when his dad bought him his first drum kit. 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.

Since young age, he always considered grime and hip hop very influential to his output. He’s now running with freedom, working on multiple projects as a producer and player with some of the key names in the UK jazz scene and beyond. There’s no doubt, Yussef Dayes is going to be the one leading the conversation in the years to come.
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