Dayes grew up playing along to his father’s jazz vinyl collection. This was the closest Yussef had to a formal jazz education until at age 10 when he studied under Billy Cobham (Miles Davies’ drummer) for two years. He spent his adolescence gigging with his brothers in afrobeat rock-influenced jazz group, United Vibrations, before collaborating with long-time acquaintance Kamaal Williams in 2015 on the project that would become Yussef Kamaal. Their debut album, Black Focus, was met with much critical acclaim – now silver-certified, the LP won the pair Best Breakthrough Act at the 2017 Jazz FM Awards. Following 2018’s “Love Is The Message”, 2019 has been a busy year for Yussef working towards his transcendental first solo project, DUALITY.
This year, Dayes has collaborated with Louis Vuitton soundtracking the LV Paris Fashion Week 2019 after-party and supported Kamasi Washington on his 2019 UK tour. He has also worked on collaborative projects across the board with some of the UK’s most exciting musicians. With a joint album with Tom Misch set for early 2020, Dayes’s musical artistry continues to push boundaries beyond the drum kit, to writing and production.