Black Focus – Yussef Kamaal

Black Focus, released in 2016, is the sole studio album by Yussef Kamaal (the duo of drummer Yussef Dayes and keyboardist Kamaal Williams). It fuses jazz-funk, broken beat, and London club sensibilities into a richly textured, groove-forward record. Songs like Black Focus, Strings of Light, and Joint 17 navigate between live improvisation and dense studio layering, capturing a fluid energy that feels spontaneous yet deliberate. The production leans into echo, warm analog synth tones, and percussive space, making the album feel both expansive and rooted in its rhythmic core. What gives Black Focus its impact is the chemistry between Dayes and Williams—the way keys and drums interlock, push, and pull with urgency. The group’s willingness to lean into loose transitions and shifts makes it feel alive, unbound by strict form. In the years since its release, it’s been cited as a key moment in the rise of UK jazz, a record that balanced accessibility with experimentation and set a high bar for what contemporary instrumental music could sound like.

Reviews

“Jazz is best experienced live and with ‘Black Focus’ Yussef Kamaal have captured the unpredictable and at times fragmented intensity of the live experience on wax.” –Clash Music

“Kamaal Williams and Yussef Dayes cast a strong reflection of the depth and richness of Peckham on their sensational new album, Black Focus … the chemistry between Williams and Dayes … is at the heart of it.” – Crack Magazine