New direction: American jazz singer and composer José James will be performing here on Feb 19.

Jazz singer José James readies up an intimate debut concert in Kuala Lumpur next month.

A future view of American jazz at The Bee @ Publika in Kuala Lumpur, you ask? Why not? That’s happening real soon with Blue Note new signing José James set to play the venue on Feb 19.

The Minneapolis-born jazz singer and composer, who just released his Blue Note debut album No Beginning No End, has refined his sound and gathered an impressive cast of musicians and collaborators to bring his music to a wider audience.

“No Beginning No End sums up how I feel about music right now,” said James in the press notes to promote his Blue Note Records debut.

“I don’t want to be confined to any particular style. I decided I didn’t want to be considered a jazz singer anymore and that was really freeing. Once I realised that jazz is just something that I do and it’s just a label, it freed me as an artiste to just write without any boundaries,” he added.

As an album built for a live setting, No Beginning No End is a seamless musical experience that moves between different styles with remarkable fluidity, bound together by James’ transcendent voice.

Conceived, recorded and produced independently without any recording contract, the album is the 33-year-old singer-songwriter’s most personal statement yet.

Along the way, he recruited a mighty team of collaborators that include noted producer/bassist Pino Palladino; pianist/composer and fellow Blue Note artiste Robert Glasper; R&B singer-songwriter/guitarist Emily King; international French-Moroccan singing star Hindi Zahra; and the 2011 Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition winner Kris Bowers.

Taking in hip hop and cutting edge electronica in his past albums, James represents both the future of jazz music and the traditions of the past.

This is clearly illustrated by his last two celebrated albums, one an album of much-loved standards on the world famous Impulse label For All We Know, and the other a future-forward mission statement on tastemaker Gilles Peterson’s (BBC Radio 1) Brownswood record label Blackmagic.

The latter features collaborations and beats from some of the biggest producers in the underground: Flying Lotus, Moodymann and DJ Mitzu The Beats, all contribute to the José James magic.

James’ show at The Bee @ Publika promises to be a blast for contemporary jazz junkies and modern soul music fans. Tickets for José James’ gig on Feb 19 at The Bee @ Publika (32B, Level G2, Publika, Solaris Dutamas Jalan Dutamas 1, KL) cost RM68. They are available at the venue. For enquiries, call 03-6201-8577 or visit thebee.com.my for more information.

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