Today, drummer-composer Tom Skinner (cofounder of Sons of Kemet and The Smile) releases his new album Kaleidoscopic Visions on all streaming platforms, following its September 26 release on LP, CD, and digital download.
The focus track, “See How They Run”, featuring London keyboardist-vocalist Yaffra (Jonathan Geyevu), stands as the album’s most overtly lyrical piece; an articulate blend of jazz-inflected spoken word that captures both the genre-fluid nature of the record and the full breadth of Skinner’s creative palette.
A Visionary Artist at the Heart of Modern Jazz
Kaleidoscopic Visions finds Skinner weaving together the many threads of his career as one of the UK’s most versatile and forward-thinking musicians. Over the years, he has performed and recorded with Sons of Kemet, The Smile, David Byrne, Meshell Ndegeocello, Alabaster DePlume, Floating Points, and Peter Zummo, as well as a host of collaborators across London’s vibrant improvised and electronic scenes. The album distills these experiences into a body of work of quiet power and deep reflection, a meditation on where Skinner has been and where he’s heading next.
Two Worlds in One Album
Across its two halves, Kaleidoscopic Visions unfolds through contrasting sonic landscapes.
The first half features entirely instrumental compositions performed by Skinner’s live Bishara band (bassist Tom Herbert, cellist Kareem Dayes, and Robert Stillman and Chelsea Carmichael) on various woodwinds and reeds, with Adrian Utley of Portishead adding electric guitar on two tracks. Composing primarily on guitar, Skinner embraced the freedom of working on his secondary instrument, exploring new textures and rhythmic ideas.
The second half opens into a world of vocal collaborations, stretching from jazz and improvisation toward more dreamlike, soulful territories. At its center is “The Maxim”, a ten-minute collaboration with Grammy Award-winner Meshell Ndegeocello, a spacious, dub-tinged meditation on life and death, performed with free-spirited grace. For Skinner, working with Ndegeocello, whose performance he first witnessed as a teenager at Glastonbury in 1994, marks a full-circle moment, emblematic of the indirect paths and serendipitous encounters that have shaped his musical journey.
Kaleidoscopic Visions offers a luminous glimpse through the many-colored lens of one of London’s most vital creative forces.
Upcoming Performance
Following special shows in Chicago, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia earlier this month, Tom Skinner returns to London for a landmark performance at Queen Elizabeth Hall on November 21, as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival.
He’ll be joined by Adrian Utley (Portishead) and Yaffra, with Hinako Omori as support.
