Since being in uni’, I’d heard of NYJO a lot, and people spoke very highly of it, and I went to go watch the Hermeto Pascoal gig at the Barbican, and it was so amazing. So, I applied, and a few months later, I was on the Nikki Yeoh ‘Nucleus’ project. 

Tell us about some of your NYJO highlights so far.
Any favourite performances, projects or moments? 

Nikki Yeoh’s ‘Nucleus’ project was a big highlight. There was a moment that was quite a long flugel solo with drums. I was very, very nervous when I first joined NYJO, because everyone spoke so highly of it, and it was so prestigious, and everyone was so good. So, to get that solo was exciting, and we played in Milton Court. That was a really good gig, I really enjoyed that. 

more recently, the last project I was on, which was the Abdullah Ibrahim Township Jazz. I absolutely loved it. I loved that music so much. Both times we’ve played it (we played at We Out Here, and we played it at Peckham Levels), the gigs were just amazing. I just absolutely loved it. 

Your upcoming project Fodder on My Wings sounds fascinating – how did it come about? 

I really, really love large ensembles, and it’s always been a dream of mine to arrange or write for one, but I was just waiting for the right thing to come along. 

I don’t listen to classical music, but I listen to a lot of old American songbooks such as Ella Fitzgerald plays Rogers and Hart, with these orchestras. I’ve always thought, wow, I would so love to do something like that.  

I also often listen to, like, soundtracks of some of my old favourite cartoons, like The Jungle Book or 101 Dalmatians, with huge orchestras, because they’re incredible! The music is truly amazing!  

And then, one day, I was listening to ‘Fodder on My Wings’ and thought, maybe this is it. And it’s funny, because it isn’t something that’s a large ensemble that I thought, oh my god, I’d love to transcribe this. It is just something that I thought, this could be amazing. 

I think I was just feeling quite inspired, because I’d been in so many NYJO projects and everything was so different. All the band leaders were so different too and I felt like I’d picked up loads of things from them all.  Finally, I felt ready, like, I think this is the time. This album is kind of speaking to me that it would be perfect for NYJO. 

NYJO were very supportive. Straight away, they said, let’s have a meeting and talk about it. And I thought, ooh, I wonder what we’re going to talk about. And basically, in the meeting, they were like, let’s do it, we love the idea, let’s go ahead with it. And so, it began. 

What is it about this particular Nina Simone album that really captured your imagination? 

Nina Simone is such an inspiration. So many of her albums have been massive influences on me and my writing, and I love telling stories in my music. So many of our songs are stories. And Nina’s got a lot of that, and I think it’s great. I think having stories and songs make them so much more accessible to a wider audience, because we all love a story, we’ve all watched films, and even if you’ve never heard jazz before, you know. 

I think Nina Simone’s ‘Fodder on my Wings’ album is so vast. It is so eclectic. There are so many styles just in one album. There’s swing, there’s reggae, there’s calypso…. Something that I really liked about it is it’s quite ‘show-timey’ – that kind of reminds me of those old films with the really dramatic instrumentation.  

I just think it had so many things in it and styles that NYJO has played. But all in one album. And I thought, wow, that’s really and you don’t really get that very often. And at the same time, nobody knows this album. Nobody speaks of this album and it’s kind of just disappeared. And I thought, this is such a brilliant opportunity to play, firstly, an incredible album, but also shine some light on this album that nobody’s really talking about. 

What can audiences expect from the premiere on 15 November? 

I think they’re going to be dancing – a lot! There’s a lot of energy and a lot of stories. They’ll learn a lot about Nina’s life just in her lyrics. The album has got everything – there’s massive highs and there’s massive lows. It’s very intense and it keeps your attention. We’ve got incredible musicians and amazing guests playing it, so I think people should expect to be captivated. I think they’re going to have a really good time. It’s going to be an amazing night. 

You’ve just released your second album, …Writing and Singing and Tunes to be Swingin’ – congratulations! What’s next for you? 

We just finished the 10-day tour, and we are playing London Jazz Festival on 22 November at Morocco Bound. 

I’m just going to keep writing – I’m always writing every single day and thinking of songs, so I’m not sure. I’ve purposely not really booked very many gigs in, because I want a little bit of space to write new material and start the next thing. There will be more music, there will be more albums, there will be more, but at the moment, it’s just writing. That’s what’s happening.