Yussef Dayes

City Winery Nashville Presents Yussef Dayes live in concert on November 26th at 8pm

YUSSEF DAYES is a tour-de-force behind the drums. Widely recognised as one of the most electrifying live performers of his generation, watching the South London-raised producer, composer and drummer perform is an exhilarating combo of technical prowess, intensity and emotion – leaving audiences in no doubt as to the role of rhythm in channelling spiritual energy.

Yussef grew up with three brothers in a home where musical experimentation was fully embraced. He was drumming by the age of four, tutored by Miles Davis’ drummer, Billy Cobham, aged ten, and quickly developed an ear for a wide range of musical styles: from the influence of East/West African rhythms and its journey through the Caribbean and South America, to the soundsystem-heavy impact of grime and jungle. That music, with its intertwining sonic language, are the building blocks of his philosophy around jazz as a form of black classical music. While still only in his pre-teens, he joined his two brothers - Ahmad and Kareem - and saxophonist, Wayne Francis (aka Ahnanse) in Afrocentric quartet, United Vibrations. Dayes’ meteoric rise came via the short lived duo Yussef Kamaal, with keyboardist Kamaal Williams. Black Focus (2016, Brownswood Recordings) — the pair’s sole and critically acclaimed album — instantly became the blueprint for a generation of music lovers and makers embroiled in the multicultural inner city junglism of Brexit-era Britain.