World-renowned drummer/composer, & producer/beatmaker, Myele Manzanza, has proved that he’s an artist who continues to dissolve the borders between modern jazz and electronic beat production.
Having released three solo albums, and racking up tours and collaborations with Jordan Rakei, Theo Parrish, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Recloose and Amp Fiddler amongst others. Myele is already developing a strong live presence in his new London base; his quartet has shared stages with the likes of Hiatus Kaiyote, The Bad Plus, Alfa Mist, and drawing packed houses to top venues such as The Jazz Café and Ronnie Scott’s.
Tapping into the vibrant scene of his adopted home, Myele now readies his next project on London-based label DeepMatter. ‘Crisis & Opportunity’ Vol.1 – London features a top tier cast of young London based talent including Ashley Henry (piano), James Copus (trumpet), George Crowley (tenor saxophone), Benjamin Muralt (bass) and additional contributions from the legendary Mark de Clive-Lowe (synths), with Myele Manzanza (drums) captaining the ship.
Born out of Myele’s necessity to direct his creative energy in a productive direction and maintain his growth as an artist during the 2020 Covid 19 lockdown, ‘Crisis & Opportunity’ is a reflection of the time we currently live in as a global society. The EP draws the global health crisis, the parallel economic crisis as a consequence of the necessary lockdowns, and the broader racial crisis brought to the forefront as a result of the death of George Floyd. Whilst it has been a difficult time for Myele Manzanza as an artist, it’s offered him opportunities to pause, reflect, and set new creative directions.
Weaving his unique blend of forward thinking genre bending jazz, broken beat, electronica and world music, Manzanza drives ‘Crisis & Opportunity’ through a set of original compositions inspired by the city of London which he now calls home. On first single ‘Portobello Superhero’, Myele explains:
“This track is really a shout out to the team at Jazz Re:Freshed. A rag-tag group of passionate music aficionados that for a decade or so hosted some of London and the world’s best musicians at Mau Mau bar on Portobello Rd in Notting Hill and really help bring a London jazz sound to the world. As a young music student back in New Zealand I discovered (through Myspace no-less) the music of Kaidi Tatham and by extension a whole scene of musicians that were pulling together a unique blend of jazz and dance music that we came to know as Broken Beat. My life was never the same since. I wanted to have something on this record that went some way to capturing that energy of a sweaty dance floor with musicians just raging out on some broken beat jazz funk vibes. I had initially planned to premiere this song at a night we had booked in 2020 that sadly didn’t get to happen with the world locking down etc. But I’m glad I got to record it all the same. PLAY IT LOUD.”
‘Portobello Superhero’ drops February 4th via Deep Matter. Pre-order yours here.