Having built momentum with EPs, gigs and a gathering media storm, many of London’s new jazz generation are finally making their album debuts. Tubist Theon Cross has already made his name on LPs with Sons of Kemet – Fyah, though, helps define how a changing London is changing jazz. The fat tuba squelch reverberating through the first seconds of ‘Accelerate’ is a statement of intent matched by the runaway, intricate momentum which follows, from a dream trio completed by Nubya Garcia and Moses Boyd. As dance music, this is funk turned inside-out, finding offkilter rhythmic emphasis under grime’s influence. Cross and Boyd are tireless, Blakey-esque engine rooms for the new beat, which they speak as a native tongue. ‘Panda Village’, meanwhile, uses synths to add a gleaming sheen, production technique no longer a shibboleth in UK jazz studios. As important as Cross’s borrowing from contemporary musical contexts are the elements he retains from jazz. ‘Letting Go’ is all whispered hi-hat hisses and subtle interweaving by Cross and Garcia. ‘CIYA’ is boppishly beautiful, like a lost Blue Note tune. Cross’s conversationally inviting solo, like the introspective quiet during ‘Letting Go’, offers individuality worth as much as the community this scene describes.

Learning the New Orleans marching band tradition with London’s Kinetika Bloco youth group, did you find something in its application of tuba which could be applied in other musical contexts – an untapped potential?

The great thing about my time spent in the Kinetika Bloco was that each year we would focus on a particular musical theme. One year we’d play the music of Sun Ra, the next could be Fela Kuti, Parliament-Funkadelic or Duke Ellington. This meant that each summer I was able to learn a different style. As the Bloco didn’t use stringed bass instruments it meant that, as the tuba player, I had to play continuously for most of the time. This helped me build my stamina, to be able to play for long periods.

Does the trio format give you all the versatility you need? And is knowing Nubya Garcia and Moses Boyd so well crucial to the music you’ve made here?

The great thing about playing in a trio format is that it allows me to play as a bass player and also melodically, in addition to being able to control the harmonic direction of the music. Because there are only three of us we all have to do more to fill the texture. With Nubya and Moses I feel we all understand this and have a great chemistry, which is definitely something I considered when writing and recording this album.

How much does grime touch your music, and what does it specifically add?

Grime MCs use a very unique style of rhythmic phrasing that emphasise the weak beats in an interesting style very unique to London. This is something I try to incorporate in the way I improvise and play melodies. I also take influence from the styles of bass parts that tend to use quite dissonant harmony and heavily syncopated rhythm.

Is there room to swing a cat at Steam Down these days?

It’s very full, which has to be a positive thing. The space has become a haven for local musicians, dancers and poets, and has an incredible community aspect that is seen in very few other spaces. It’s become more of a movement than a night, which is a real testament to the vision of Wayne Francis who birthed the idea, alongside a great team working hard to maintain it.