Endorsed by DJ/zeitgeist monitor Giles Peterson – Brownswood is the diminutive one’s very own label – José James bursts on to the scene, jazz guns blazing, blasting away the likes of Bublé and Cullum and proving himself the sort of singer we’ve been crying out for. A mixed-race, New York-based 20-something, James honed his jazz chops by scatting along to Billie and Louis between rapping to hip hop albums and writing lyrics to tracks by Coltrane.

Here he applies his rich yet subtle baritone to a swathe of intelligent original compositions – the title track, a homage to Martin Luther King, among them. Covers come carefully selected: hip hop outfit Freestyle Fellowship’s ‘Park Bench People’. Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s ‘Spirits Up Above’ (remixed elsewhere by DJ/producer Simbad) complete with Junior Mance on piano and some double time Mingus stylings from bassist and arranger Alexi David. Eschewing entertainer-lite for innovation and depth, The Dreamer is a startling debut from one of jazz’s hippest young gunslingers. Jane Cornwell


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