麻豆约拍

Bandleader, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Emma-Jean Thackray was born and raised in Yorkshire but is today a resident of Catford, south-east London. She started her musical journey playing a cornet her parents had bought her from a second-hand music shop, and by the age of 13 she was principal cornet in a local brass band.

One day, downloading brass band recordings, she came across the Gil Evans’ arrangement of Miles Davis’ take on “Concierto De Aranjuez”, and it was an instant ‘mind blown’ moment. Soon, she was voraciously collecting jazz - Miles, Coltrane, anything with a cool sleeve. Still, her time in a brass band taught Thackray the power of a communal approach to music.

Her 2020 EPs Um Yang and Rain Dance now mark Thackray out as standard-bearer of a spiritually-minded, dancefloor-angled take on jazz that stands at a slight remove from the broader UK scene.

But Yellow, as rich lyrically as it is musically, released on Thackray’s own Warp Records and her 2020 track Movementt, feels like a further step into a fresh and distinct space. Through the track, Thackray chants her musical mantra “Move the body, move the mind, move the soul”. It’s a principle by which she creates all her work – and Yellow is its boldest, brightest manifestation to date.

“The groove is the most important thing,” says Thackray. “Even if it's a tune that's really mad and free, all kinds of crazy sh** happening, there's usually a groove there - an anchor, locking it down.”