The Light Beyond Time Cassette

Keyboard player and pianist Charlie Stacey fuses jazzpiano virtuosity with dark synth textures and grooves on his first solo project a directtodisc, one take recording for Night Dreamer Records.One of the UKs leading keys players, Charlie Stacey improvisational skills are unmatched. Known for his work with Yussef Dayes and fellow Tomorrow Warriors alumni such as Moses Boyd and The Ezra Collective. Staceys technical prowess and ability to jump between genres has quietly gained the young pianist a reputation as one of the most advanced players around.Fronting a band for his debut recording under his own name, Stacey had to bring that knack for improvisation to the fore. Alongside his regular band of Oscar Ogden drums, Tom Driessler bass and Jay Phelps trumpet, Stacey was joined in the studio for the first time by vocalist Vula Malinga who has performed with Basement Jaxx and Incognito and Hollandbased Senegalese percussionist Mamour Seck. Together, the group forged four sprawling jams from the white heat of the directtodisc recording process.As an agile and highly adaptive performer and composer, Stacey allowed the new lineup to shape the sound in unexpected ways. What began as a Herbie Hancockera Headhunters instrumental tip erred instead towards old school jazz scat in places, ethereal RnB and Kamasi Washingtonesque lyrical spaceballads in others.From the soulful acid jazz sound that Malinga brings to opening track Music is Healing, to the AfroCuban twist on Staceys signature Charlies Tune, there is a spontaneity to the recordings that give them a collective urgency true to the essence of the jazz tradition. The chance to record in the way that Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and many of my heroes recorded was really appealing, says Stacey.