Ashley Henry

Beautiful Vinyl Hunter SONY MUSIC. CD/DL/LP Glittering guest-list lights up rising London pianist’s diverse debut. IF IT HAS become increasingly hard to add a fresh spin to the jazz-hip-hop hybrid, this classically trained south London BRIT School graduate leaves listeners spoilt with possibilities. While Henry’s talent for enveloping, riff-based compositions sparkles on compact, song-based turns with singer Judi Jackson (restless neo-soul jam Star Child) and slam poet Joshua Idehen (skittering Windrush ode Colors), instrumentals with trumpeter Theo Croker (blissed-out Rhodes love-in Introspection), Binker & Moses (twisting magic carpet ride Battle) and Chicago beat-scientist Makaya McCraven (tempo-stretching Dark Honey) all evince nuanced skills and lightning-quick harmonics with Herbie Hancock or Abdullah Ibrahim’s dreamy edge. Strident Glasper-like piano-bass-drum deconstructions of Solange’s Cranes (In The Sky) and The Enemy’s lesser-heard Pressure further expose the poise and power behind his ambition.