Crisis & Opportunity, Vol. 1 - London Myele Manzanza

• 1 Big Deal 2 (Bigger Deals) 11:37
• 2 Portobello Superhero 08:27
• 3 Brixton Blues 07:08
• 4 London 05:12
• 5 Crisis & Opportunity 08:00
• Total Runtime 40:24

Info for Crisis & Opportunity, Vol. 1 - London

World-renowned drummer/composer, & producer/beatmaker, Myele Manzanza, has proved that he's an artist who continues to dissolve the borders between modern jazz and electronic beat production. Having released three solo albums, and racking up tours and collaborations with Jordan Rakei, Theo Parrish, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Recloose and Amp Fiddler amongst others. Myele is already developing a strong live presence in his new London base; his quartet has shared stages with the likes of Hiatus Kaiyote, The Bad Plus, Alfa Mist, and drawing packed houses to top venues such as The Jazz Café and Ronnie Scott’s.

'Crisis & Opportunity' Vol.1 - London features a top tier cast of young London based talent including Ashley Henry (piano), James Copus (trumpet), George Crowley (tenor saxophone), Benjamin Muralt (bass) and additional contributions from the legendary Mark de Clive-Lowe (synths), with Myele Manzanza (drums) captaining the ship.

Born out of Myele’s necessity to direct his creative energy in a productive direction and maintain his growth as an artist during the 2020 Covid 19 lockdown, 'Crisis & Opportunity’ is a reflection of the time we currently live in as a global society. The EP draws the global health crisis, the parallel economic crisis as a consequence of the necessary lockdowns, and the broader racial crisis brought to the forefront as a result of the death of George Floyd. Whilst it has been a difficult time for Myele Manzanza as an artist, it’s offered him opportunities to pause, reflect, and set new creative directions.

Weaving his unique blend of forward-thinking genre-bending jazz, broken beat, electronica and world music, Manzanza drives ‘Crisis & Opportunity’ through a set of original compositions inspired by the city of London which he now calls home.

Crisis & Opportunity’ Vol. 1 documents Myele Manzanza’s artistic journey throughout the global crisis, illustrating a strong creative growth reliant on the artist’s roots and those of Jazz as a global language. Features of supreme collaborators consolidate the image of unity which London Jazz represents.

On tracks like ‘Brixton Blues’, Myele paints London’s rich and diverse cultural landscape. Myele explains: “Upon first arriving in London, I found a home in Brixton, one of the city’s most vibrant and multicultural areas. Through Brixton I got to know London in all its contradictions; vibrant markets on one side, espresso slinging co-working café’s on the other. Musically, ‘Brixton Blues’ was one of those rare compositions that started from the drums. This piece reminded me of the ‘less is more’ lesson; I decided to wear my Jimmy Cobb ‘Kind Of Blue’ hat & focus on holding the space for the soloists to speak. I’m glad I did, Ashley and James ended up delivering masterfully clear, understated solos that are a great study for any musician looking for a master study in making statements behind your instrument.”

On ‘Portobello Superhero’, Myele praises the stalwarts of London-Centric Jazz infused institutions such as CoOp, Jazz Re:Freshed and Plastic People, paying homage to its origins and infections effect on its listeners: “As a young music student back in New Zealand I discovered the scene of Broken Beat. My life was never the same since. With this track I wanted to shout out to the team at Jazz Re:Freshed who I saw help bring a London jazz sound to the world. I wanted to have something on this record that went some way to capturing that energy of a sweaty dance floor with musicians just raging out on some broken beat jazz funk vibes. PLAY IT LOUD.

Myele Manzanza, drums
Ashley Henry, piano
James Copus, trumpet
George Crowley. tenor saxophone
Benjamin Muralt, bass
Mark de Clive-Lowe, synthesizers

Myele Manzanza
At just 25 years old the musically prolific Myele Manzanza has not only held down the drums as part of New Zealand’s Electric Wire Hustle for the past 5 years but has also drummed for many other NZ bands including Olmecha Supreme, Sheba Williams, The Recloose Live Band, The Jonathan Crayford Trio as well as for his father – Sam Manzanza’s Rhythm Africa Band & countless other musical projects. Myele only started playing drum kit at age 14 but has been hand drumming traditional African rhythms with his father Sam Manzanza from a young age. “Growing up music and rhythm was all around me and I understood it from a very early age. Through my father I learnt the language of the drum probably at the same time as I learnt to talk! My dad was one of the first Africans to perform traditional African & High Life music live in New Zealand & he has been a tremendous influence & inspiration on my career as a musician.”says Myele. Since graduating from the New Zealand School Of Music with a Degree in Jazz performance in 2008, Myele has dutifully dedicated himself to learning the new discipline of digital music production. In 2010 Myele was the only New Zealander selected to participate in the Red Bull Music Academy in London where he picked up a wealth of knowledge & skill from the many other participants from all over the world and expert lecturers such as Flying Lotus, Roots Manuva, Cluster, Moodyman, Dr Peter Zinovieff and DJ Zinc. The rest of the year was spent living between Berlin & New York & touring with Electric Wire Hustle with laptop in hand. The fertile breeding ground of creativity of these cities provided the seeds of musical inspiration to put together his first album aptly titled ‘One’.

This album contains no booklet.