Ohio-born multi-instrumentalist Joshua Karpeh – aka Cautious Clay (yes, it’s a play on Muhammed Ali’s birth name) – is perhaps something of an unknown quantity in the wider jazz world. But when his second album drops on the storied Blue Note imprint and is packed with heavyweight guests, not least guitar star Julian Lage (who’s on nearly every track), you’re forced to sit up an listen. Having scored some success in the R&B world with his debut 2017 single ‘Cold War’ and his subsequent 2021 album Deadpan Love, it’s fair to say that Karpeh is something of a revelatory rebirth by contrast.

Clay is an adept virtuoso across several instruments – his cutting sax and flute feature prominently across a sweeping range of songs – and his rich, soulful tenor voice sits somewhere between the gruff tones of Gil Scott-Heron and the silken refinement of Donny Hathaway.

While there’s a lineage from the likes of early 2000s duo OutKast, to the likes of recent crossover titans Kamasi Washington and Thundercat, Clay’s hybrid sound is his own and embraces soul-funk anthems such as ear-worm ‘Ohio’ or unabashed heart-on-the-sleeve balladry ‘Take A Half’ or ‘Moments Stolen’, with wild jazz-heavy twists.

The album’s most outré track, ‘Glass Face’, features former John McLaughlin bass guitarist Kai Eckhardt (who happens to be Clay’s uncle) whipping up a melodic flamenco-slap storm while Clay harmonises wordless vocals with Grammy-winning Pakistani-American vocalist Arooj Aftab on top, silver surfing through a galaxy of key changes. Immanuel Wilkins and Ambrose Akinmusire duel with Clay on the storming instrumental ‘Yesterday’s Price’ – with the leader more than holding his own on tenor. M-Base drummer Sean Rickman provides the killer in-the-pocket grooves and Lage is a more than sympathetic sideman when required. Soulful, heartfelt and just downright life-enhancing, Karpeh packs a knockout punch.