Joe Armon-Jones

English

Joe Armon-Jones creates at his own pace. Given the whirlwind of activity that is the new London jazz scene and his place at the centre of it, you might expect the keyboard player to be frantic, stressed out even. Yet as he prepares to release his second album in as many years (his third if you count his work as one-fifth of Ezra Collective, which you most definitely should), Armon-Jones is serene as ever.
« I just like having something personal to work on to give me purpose and to keep me on the right track, so I don’t get lazy » he shrugs, sat in his bedroom in the Lewisham home he shares with DJ Maxwell Owin..

Despite the intense complexity of much of his music and the seemingly relentless schedules of London’s musicians, simplicity is key to Armon Jones’ creative process. An artist that writes continuously, whether on tour or at home, the moment he feels he has the bones of an album ready he assembles a band, more often than not fellow pillars of London’s scene, writes the charts and books a studio. His approach to music is studious rather than exhibitory. « Writing the album doesn’t take that long, » he muses in an attempt to explain how he manages to maintain a solo career, a position in one of the hottest bands in the capital and be one of the most in-demand players in his scene. « Recording doesn’t even take that long… I wrote the album in three or four days and recorded it in two. »
However, don’t mistake Armon Jones’ nonchalance for lack of care or effort. While the recording process may have been quick, the keyboard player explains that he spent months piecing tracks together and tweaking them after the fact. If there was a mixdown or mastering session, he was in the room.

The album itself is all the better for Armon-Jones’ focus. Just as sonically sprawling as his debut, Turn To Clear View is the next step on Armon-Jones’ journey beyond the boundaries of genre. With a rope tethered to his jazz training, the new album sees the acclaimed keyboardist explore R&B, – with Asheber on opening track ‘Try Walk With Me’ – funk – on ‘Yellow Dandelion’ with the iconic Georgia Anne Muldrow – and even UK hip-hop thanks to a contribution from pioneering MC Jehst (‘The Leo & Aquarius’). Elsewhere, rising star Obongjayar lends his vocals to closing track ‘Self:Love’ and Nubya Garcia steps up for a lung-busting solo on ‘You Didn’t Care’. It’s testament to Armon-Jones’ clarity of vision that such a diverse roster of guests sound so comfortable sat alongside each other on the record.
In the time since his last album, Starting Today – all 14 months of it – the London jazz scene of which he is a part has become one of the most hyped musical movements of a generation, and many of Armon-Jones’ friends and collaborators have become stars in their own right. Moses Boyd – who plays drums on one half of Turn To Clear View – has a residency on Radio 1Xtra, Nubya Garcia – one of Armon-Jones’ most long term collaborators – has signed to Domino as part of the septet Maisha, and is a pillar of London’s scene in her own right and Femi Koleoso, the drummer and de-facto band leader for Armon-Jones’ group Ezra Collective has been touring the world with Jorja Smith.

As for Armon-Jones, he’s been busy selling out solo headline shows and racking up awards and nominations. In the last year alone he’s won a Worldwide Award for ‘Session of the Year’, got a nod for ‘UK Act of the Year’ at the Jazz FM Awards, sold out the Village Underground, hailed as a ‘must see’ at SXSW, “one to watch” by the Observer, and picked up praise from the likes of Pitchfork, Dazed and Complex.
Given these successes, you might expect that the free-flowing nature of the scene that gave birth to his debut has changed somewhat and that where once his peers may have all been a just DM away, now things have to be done through more official channels. Luckily, Armon-Jones says, that’s not the case. His new album features almost the exact same line-up as his first and in fact, boasts even more collaborators, all of whom, he assures me, came about organically and before his label, Brownswood, even knew he was making a new record.
« It hasn’t really changed the way I look at them, to be honest, » Armon-Jones says of his peers, in typically relaxed fashion. « I’ve always looked at Moses like ‘wow you’re insane at drumming’, he’s so together, he’s thinking about the next two years in a very thought out way. What you’re seeing Moses do know, he knew he was going to two years ago. Same with being around Femi, it was obvious he would be successful. I knew it would happen. Same with Nubya. It’s nice to see, but it’s not surprising… they seemed successful from when I met them because they were doing what they wanted. »

Similarly, he’s not worried by the increased attention his new album will inevitably garner and any notion of a ‘difficult second album’ or pressure to live up to the hype seems is dismissed with admirable stoicism. « I think it’s easy to think it’s blown up from where we’re sitting because we hear about it all the time, » he says. [But] that’s not how it works. It blew from the minute Shabaka [Hutchings] started playing the clarinet when he was six or whatever, and it’s going to continue to blow. »
Hype may come and go, but Armon-Jones seems sure that the music, and he and his peers’ desire to create it in the uncompromising, experimental way that has won them that hype, will remain. « People might stop paying attention, but I don’t think it will stop Shabaka playing as many gigs as he does, or Nubya playing as many as she does. It won’t stop any of us writing. It won’t slow that down. People who are swept in the hype now might move on, but that’s fine because they probably weren’t buying the records anyway. »