The Waaju quintet combines pulsing Afro-Latin roots and UK jazz in their latest offering Grown. Via Olindo Records the collective, led by drummer and percussionist Ben Brown (Alfa Mist, Dizraeli, Ashley Henry), and comprising members across the UK’s extensive music scene, connects a wide range of traditional musics echoing from different corners of the world with a distinctly contemporary British jazz flavour to deliver their most distinctive and refined work to date, following the the group’s 2018 self-titled debut LP.

From the Malian language, Waaju means “to urge, inspire or influence to take action”. Their music revives soundscapes from that country’s folk music, with Ali Farka Touré being a fundamental inspiration. But Waaju goes beyond that, embracing the different layers of London’s own musical culture. We can hear influences of Moroccan gnawa, Caribbean carnival music, Latin polyrhthms, Malian psychadelic blues… all arranged in a more dancefloor-oriented UK jazz context. Grown is available on vinyl, courtesy of Olindo Records, and is an album to explore deep.