kamaal williams: new heights / snitches brew
Francisco Espregueira
Pianist and producer Kamaal Williams (a.k.a. Henry Wu) is releasing tomorrow a new 12″’ featuring two tracks - “New Heights” and “Snitches Brew”. He continues to flow creativity within his influences of 70’s jazz, hip hop and electronic bounce. New perspectives. Much like his shows, where he and the incredible talent that joins, just create on the spot, within a certain canvas.
Following the release of William’s album The Return earlier this year, “New Heights (Visions of Aisha Malik)” is co-produced by Darkhouse Family and marries an elastic bassline with William’s idiosyncratic playing. “Snitches Brew” takes things in a wiggy, psychedelic direction on the flip, and features guitarist Mansur Brown, who also released his debut LP via Black Focus Records.
Meanwhile, Williams dropped Catch The Loop 1, which is kind of a booklet for The Return. We hear Kamaal talking about his influences, about London and the sound of London, while takes of the album are composed and mixed together by the producer K15, who often collaborates with him. The second track is a live example of virtuosity and improvisation within that album’s palette of sounds. Taped at one of the best houses of music in London - NTS. Available on cassette, we can further understand The Return’s context and intentions, definitely one of the albums of 2018.