After two EPs and an illuminating start to his career, Grammy Award-winning saxophonist Venna releases his debut album, MALIK.
For Venna, it’s been a whirlwind of a journey to arrive at this point. He’s spent the better part of three years on the road touring, while coming back to London intermittently. In the spaces he finds himself in as a musician, he’s often the youngest in the room. This period gave him the confidence to embark on this next stage of his career.
“Every experience, every memory, every conversation, anything new, any encounter has influenced how this album sounds. I might like a particular guitar tone from it, and then I bring it into my world. Everything has come and conjured into one place, and it's beautiful to also hear and see,” Venna says.
Speaking on how he found the words to sing: “Does anyone really have the words to say? I don't know. I don't know if I had the words to say. I just conjured words and thoughts and tried to make art out of it.”
Featuring vocals from Jorja Smith, Cari, Leon Thomas, Smino, MIKE, and himself, MALIK is where listeners can get lost and find themselves again. The album also features a long list of musicians including Rocco Palladino, Elijah Fox, AoD, J Warner, Marco Bernardis, and longtime collaborator, Yussef Dayes.
MALIK embodies the melting pot of sounds that reflects Venna’s environment. Venna doesn’t want to be rooted in jazz alone; his previous work for the likes of Burna Boy, Beyoncé, Kali Uchis, Wizkid, Knucks, J Hus and many more indicates that his saxophone was made for an expansive range of sounds.
Speaking on the mood his debut album wants to evoke, Venna says: “It's wherever you feel safe, where you feel vulnerable, where you feel like you can be lost, wherever you feel like you can be yourself. It could be in your car, in your bathtub, or at your favourite restaurant. It could be within the arms of your loved one. That’s the beauty of it.”
Venna doesn’t see any of the album’s features as mere guests but as collaborators and teammates while he steers the ship. In many ways, the process of making MALIK placed Venna into the role of band leader. However, Venna saw the process as a collective experience.
Bringing a group of musicians together isn’t easy when the music feels bigger than any individual, trying not to get too lost in the ephemeral that comes with recording sessions. It was a learning experience for Venna, and finding the right balance was key during the incubation of MALIK.
‘Twisting’ featuring R&B’s brightest star Leon Thomas is a slight departure from Venna’s more tranquil styles and, as he describes it, “it’s a song for the steppers.” Venna’s vocal whispers and harmonies add warmth and depth on tracks such as' Prophet. At points, Venna’s vocals feel fleeting but the poise of the saxophone grounds them. ‘My Way’ mesmerises with its soft-rock and folk inflections while ‘São Paulo Memoir’, at only a minute long, offers a brief taste of bossa nova blended with jazzy tones.
In recent years, Yussef Dayes, in particular, has been a guiding light for Venna as he navigates these early stages of his career. Many forget that he’s still a young man trying to make sense of his place in the world and through Dayes, Venna has been shown just how far and expansive his art can be. It’s serendipitous that MALIK will be released on Dayes’ label, Cashmere Thoughts.
It’s easy to categorise any music with horns and a rhythm section as jazz in the UK, but Venna has long tried to avoid the finite limitations of that label. There are elements of jazz on MALIK but also bossa nova, R&B, soul and rap. “I purposely made an album that doesn't fit into any genres, because I don't see myself as a genre. I see myself as a person with the music. I see it as if I get given the music to give to you,” he says, “My foundation of music is jazz - I will never not be jazz, these are my roots but I think the music stretches to a world beyond any genres. and you can feel that in this record.”
It’s a beautiful rarity when an artist sees themselves as a vessel of the music, and though MALIK is a manifestation of his experiences and how he sees the world and years of craft, Venna wants MALIK to be an invitation. An invitation to let go, be present and submit to sensory experiences.
