Yussef Kamaal are shaped by the sound of London. Growing up in the capital, they frame jazz within the bass-saturated, pirate radio broadcasts of the UK capital. The pair, made up of Yussef Dayes and Kamaal Williams (aka Henry Wu), have had little in the way of formal training. Instead, their musical tastes – and approach to playing – are indebted to Thelonious Monk’s piano as much as the drum programming of Kaidi Tatham.

The pair draw influence from all corners of London’s shapeshifting musical make-up – with its hum of jungle, grime and broken beat shaping a self-taught, UK-tipped approach to playing jazz.

We sat down with them last year to discuss their debut Album ‘Black Focus’ release on Brownswood Recordings in November 2016 as well as a their lives shows and upcoming tour.