Kokayi - KOKAYI- LIVE AT BIG EARS (2025) [Official Digital Download]

Please meet Kokayi: No, not the Washington, D.C.-born iconoclast who helped establish the city as a hip-hop landmark. I mean the leader of a different kind; the only improvising vocalist in jazz, whose vocal aesthetic is equal parts Bobby McFerrin and Jon Lucien, Black Classical Music in a packed room in Holland. I type the words “Black Classical Music” without irony, because Kokayi harbors the same elegance and commands the same respect. It doesn’t differ from the scat singing that jazz purists canonize, and shouldn’t be discounted due to the undercurrent of funk, rock and go-go coursing through the set. This is jazz the way it was intended — shifting within the scope of a song, leaning into the moment, unencumbered by frivolous perceptions of what it’s supposed to be. With Kokayi, open-minded listening is essential: Let the music swirl and take shape and be what it is.

That’s the approach of Live at Big Ears, the best example of his creative ethos. Recorded March 29, 2025 in Knoxville, the day after he performed with the trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire as a part of his ensemble, Kokayi gave the best show I’ve ever seen him do. Perhaps inspired by the festival’s platform or still on a high from the previous night, Kokayi ascended, cutting across topics while the band — Drew Kid on piano and keyboard; Kris Funn on bass; and Sheldon Thwaites on drums — offered an equally adept score of known and unknown arrangements. Funny yet serious, whimsical and pensive, Kokayi sang of anxiety, crumbling empires, death and old vinyl records with sharp dexterity. The band was remarkably brisk, dotting vast genres and tempos, pushing each other and the vocalist to unforeseen heights. And it was all improvised. No set list. No discussion of where to direct the music. No lyrics written ahead of time. That this was mostly improvised makes it even more stunning. For over an hour in front of hundreds of engaged onlookers, Kokayi pulled comprehensive songs out of thin air.

TRACKLIST

1. Kokayi - The Ides of Fall (Live at Big Ears)
2. Kokayi - Drew Terrace (Live at Big Ears)
3. Kokayi - Vinyl (Live at Big Ears)
4. Kokayi - Part of It (Live at Big Ears)
5. Kokayi - Called Me Home (Live at Big Ears)
6. Kokayi - Shorty Baking The Lick (Live at Big Ears)
7. Kokayi - Gathered (Live at Big Ears)



Thanks to the Original customer.