Know your enemy

Kamaal Williams (aka Henry Wu) and the London Jazz scene are synonymous. Wu Funk, a term coined from a correspondingly named Spotify playlist featuring the works of the industrious jazz musician, is essentially a one-man genre at this point. 2016’s Black Focus album reinvigorated modern British Jazz and led to the formation of Wu’s own Black Focus label. A label which has reached ‘New Heights’ with its most recent music video that feels like it’s cut straight out of a Bruce Lee movie.

Directed by Greg Barnes, featuring Chris Tang and Jayson Wynters and shot on 35mm film, the epic motion picture depicts a classic martial arts teacher-student scene with Sun Tzu’s renowned message of ‘know your enemy’, as the focal point of the lesson. The contrast of the old-school feel martial arts act and Wu’s idiosyncratic piano works in a peculiar way that somehow makes the combination seem fresh and unique. Managing to innovate using dated techniques is just another one of the many talents of Kamaal Williams, who played every instrument featured in ‘New Heights’.

Fortunately for us, we aren’t stuck appreciating Wu’s talents on phones and laptops for long as the British jazz prodigy is returning home from a tour of America this month and is set to play at London’s Roundhouse on the 13^th of April.

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