Multi-instrumentalist, producer, and composer Yussef Dayes—who has just been nominated for BRIT Awards for Best New Artist and Best Alternative/Rock Act—releases The Yussef Dayes Experience: Live From Malibu, featuring music from his critically acclaimed debut solo album, Black Classical Music, and more, on vinyl and digitally today via Brownswood Recordings, Warner Music, and Cashmere Thoughts Recordings and in the US on Nonesuch Records, avialable here. Dayes is joined by his longtime collaborators Rocco Palladino, Venna, Elijah Fox, and Alexander Bourt on Live From Malibu, which was originally released as a live-performance video filmed in the Malibu mountains last year.

Dayes made his solo debut last year with Black Classical Music, which received widespread critical acclaim and made year’s best lists from NPR Music, Rough Trade, BBC Radio 6 Music, Boston Globe, PopMatters, AllMusic, Loud and Quiet, Brooklyn Vegan, Treblezine, KCRW, WRTI, Qobuz, Spotify, and more. On the album, Dayes’ drum licks and Rocco Palladino’s bass are the sturdy anchors, aided by Charlie Stacey (keys/synths), Venna (saxophone), Alexander Bourt (percussion), and a host of features including: Chronixx, Masego, Jamilah Barry, Tom Misch, Elijah Fox, Shabaka Hutchings, Miles James, Sheila Maurice Grey, Nathaniel Cross, Theon Cross, and the Chineke! Orchestra—the first professional orchestra in Europe to be made up of majority Black and ethnically diverse musicians.

Dayes’ career is expansive and wide reaching; his rise can be first linked to the Afrocentric quartet United Vibrations, alongside his two brothers, Ahmad and Kareem, and saxophonist, Wayne Francis. This was followed by the highly successful but short-lived duo Yussef Kamaal, with keyboardist Kamaal Williams. More recently, Dayes released Live at Joshua Tree, an EP presented by Soulection, and other solo releases including the live album Welcome to the Hills and Love Is the Message, which was recorded live at Abbey Road Studios.

His extensive list of collaborators includes the finest talents across both music and fashion—from 2020’s Top 5-charting collaboration with Tom Misch What Kinda Music (Blue Note) to an official remix of Pa Salieu’s “Frontline” on Wizkid’s Made in Lagos album to production for R&B royalty in Kali Uchis and Kehlani. Dayes had a special artistic relationship with the late Louis Vuitton innovator Virgil Abloh, who hand-picked him to soundtrack and curate a LV dinner show for Paris Men’s Fashion Week and invited him to perform at the Louis Vuitton Museum in Paris, among many other collaborations. More recently, Dayes has lent his musical prowess to albums from the likes of Sampha and Noname, further solidifying his position as a respected and sought-after collaborator.