London Brew
London Brew is the debut album by London Brew, a band consisting of a dozen British jazz musicians including Nubya Garcia, BBC Radio 1 presenter Benji B, and multiple members of Sons of Kemet and the Invisible The album was released on 31 March 2023.
Martin Terefe – producer, mixing engineer, guitarist
Bruce Lampcov – executive producer
Dilip Harris - recording engineer
Nubya Garcia – saxophone, flute
Shabaka Hutchings – saxophone, woodwinds
Tom Skinner – drums, percussion
Benji B – decks, sonic recycling
Theon Cross – tuba
Raven Bush – violin, electronics
Tom Herbert – electric bass, double bass
Nikolaj Torp Larsen – synthesisers, melodica
Nick Ramm – piano, synthesizers
Dan See – drums, percussion
Dave Okumu – guitar
Glen Scott
Lucinda Chao
The group assembled at the Church Studios in North London in December 2020, starting five days after the end of the UK's second COVID-19 lockdown, to record the album, an improvised set inspired by Bitches Brew. The recording took place over three days. The process started with pre-production work by Terefe and the Invisible's Dave Okumu, which Okumu described as Terefe sharing "a vision rooted in inspiration and celebration rather than faithful recreation". Benji B was brought in to feed Terefe's and Okumu's initial sketches to the ensemble. Okumu said the recording process was full of "so many special moments" such as "Shabaka and Nubya speaking to each other through their horns or Theon Cross dropping the heaviest bass line this side of lockdown.