kaidi tatham: an insight to all minds
Francisco Espregueira
Kaidi Tatham is a kind of spiritual guide for us. His legacy as a virtuoso on keys and as a true innovator in sound production is nothing short of legendary. He was one of the original creators of the broken beat sound, but we like to refer to him as one of the most important jazz artists of our time. If you don’t know him yet, it’s probably because jazz has become more and more what always was meant to become. A diverse, free-spirited and experimental genre. Tatham’s ‘experiments’ have blessed numerous projects: Bugz In The Attic and The Herbaliser, Andrew Ashong (on the acclaimed Sankofa Season EP last year) and with longtime accomplice, Dego. Additional and impressive session works for artists such as Mulatu Astatke, Slum Village, Amy Winehouse, Soul II Soul and Leroy Burgess, along with First Word label mates such as Eric Lau, Children of Zeus and Darkhouse Family. If it weren’t for him we probably didn’t even exist as a website.
An Insight To All Minds is his third full album, dropping today via First Word Records. It follows a body of work that spans tons of EPs and releases for labels such as 2000Black, Eglo and Theo Parrish's Sound Signature. His amazing previous albums, In Search Of Hope and It's A World Before You, are the perfect complement to Tatham’s new project - comprising an assortment of Kaidi's unique flavours, such as his uptempo jazz-funk bruk, laced with rhodes, flutes, live bass and delicious percussion. Using that blueprint he moves effortlessly through latin and samba, half-step, deep afro house and a sprinkle of curveballs, all presented in Kaidi Tatham’s inimitable way.
Like its predecessors, An Insight To All Minds, falls within the cracks of jazz and dance music, exemplifying modern British black brilliance once again; uncompromising, innovative, groundbreaking, intricately sophisticated and deeply funky. K15, one of his true heirs, defines his work as an endless source of inspiration. We can’t really add up anything else to that. An Insight To All Minds is available on vinyl via First Word.
“(...) not about a destination, but a process. It’s about how you drive, not where you’re going. Nothing in this world can torment you as much as your own thoughts… We are all going through it. We can all feel what the next person is feeling, believe it or not. It’s learning how to tap into it.”