Toronto, ON – January 19, 2023 –London Brew, a new album inspired by Miles Davis' Bitches Brew has been announced by Concord Jazz today from a crème de la crème collection of UK jazz luminaries, due for release as a 2 LP set, 2 CD and digitally on March 31.
 
Comprised of a veritable who's who of some of the most important and innovative musicians of the 21st century, London Brew features contributions from Benji B, Theon Cross, Nubya Garcia, Shabaka Hutchings, Dave Okumu, Tom Skinner and more, brought together by Producer and guitarist, Martin Terefe, and Executive Producer, Bruce Lampcov. The record reflects an emotional journey through the period in which it was conceived, having been recorded during the pandemic and after many months of isolation and the inability to collaborate in person. Recorded in December 2020 at Paul Epworth's Church Studios in London, Terefe explains how the resulting music is "sometimes uncomfortable, other times it's familiar and joyous and other times it's like deep meditation."
 
The album is previewed today by the release of its first single, Miles Chases New Voodoo in the Church, of which Nubya Garcia explains, “this single is our interpretation of Miles Davis’ ode to Jimi Hendrix (Miles Runs the Voodoo Down). I’ve always been very inspired by the creative minds of both Miles and Jimi…. Both were innovators who carved their own lanes, which is something I’ve aspired to in my own career.  For a while now I’ve been experimenting and using pedals and effects with my instrument, so to be able to do that on this track, while paying tribute to their legacies, was a joy both creatively and personally.”

Listen to Miles Chases New Voodoo in the Church (single edit) here. 

 
What began as a plan for a live performance at the Barbican in honour of the 50th anniversary of Bitches Brew in early 2020 - an event that was sadly to be scuppered by the pandemic - would eventually blossom into so much more. London Brew is a collection of original recordings rooted in inspiration and celebration - not just a rapturous, moving tribute to one of the most totemic figures in modern music but equally a one-off moment in London's musical history captured forever on four sides of vinyl. As Lampcov writes in the album's liner notes, "London Brew is also inspired by... London. The city, the people, her creativity and her struggles. London Brew is primordial, born out of a year of trying to get to grips with what being human is about. The sounds and melodies cover the gamut of human emotion from delicate and caring to coarse and angry. Nothing is left unsaid."
 
An intelligent, dexterous assault on the senses from a group of artists united in their freewheeling vision, London Brew's eight tracks are unified by an experimental, improvisatory fire. "In all my years of recording, I'd never been involved in an improvisatory process on this scale," offers The Invisible's Dave Okumu. "It's ease and sense of endlessness is surely a testament to the calibre of each musician and the unique manner in which they've taken on the lessons Miles set before us through his recording and performances."
 
Theon Cross highlights how "the possibility of playing with a larger group of people [at the end of a year marked by the pandemic] with such an open and free approach was an incredibly powerful and moving experience," while Shabaka Hutchings comments: "For me, that's what Bitches Brew is. It's a bunch of musicians making music because of the love of making music, as a social force and as a social construct. They are creating something that expresses unity and motion. That's what it is to be alive… you know, you have unity, you have motion, and you have vibration. You don't get any more alive than that. That's Bitches Brew." That's London Brew, too, and you won't have ever heard anything quite like it.