London-based jazz fusion artist Kamaal Williams will release a debut album in May, titled The Return.

Williams is perhaps best known for his Yussef Kamaal collaboration with Yussef Dayes, which resulted in 2016’s Black Focus LP on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings. Elsewhere, he’s shared a catalogue of 12″s for imprints such as MCDE, Eglo, and Rhythm Section as Henry Wu, establishing himself as a key figure in his thriving international scene for the past few years.

The Return sees Williams playing keyboards as part of a group that includes bassist Pete Martin and drummer MckNasty, along with sound engineer Richard Samuels. It’s described “a natural evolution” of the Yussef Kamaal project, “mining the influence of visionary jazz but blended with all kinds of texture, sounds, and signals from the over-saturated London streets.”

In the US, the likes of Kamasi Washington and Thundercat have made great strides in opening a whole new dialogue between jazz and hip-hop, drawing in a young, highly engaged new audience in the process. Kamaal Williams mine a similar seam on the other side of the Atlantic alongside other exciting London talents such as Ezra Collective, Ruby Rushton, and Shabaka Hutchings.

The 10-track album will be the debut album released on Wu’s new label Black Focus Records.

Tracklisting

01. Salaam
02. Broken Theme
03. The Return
04. High Roller
05. Situations (Live In Milan)
06. Catch The Loop
07. Rhythm Commission
08. Medina
09. LDN Shuffle
10. Aisha

The Return LP will land on May 25 with “Salaam” streaming in full below.