The Yussef Dayes Experience - Live from Mt. Fuji (2026 Brownswood/Cashmere Thoughts Vinyl LP)

The Yussef Dayes Experience - Live from Mt. Fuji | Vinyl LP - 2026 Brownswood/Cashmere Thoughts (BWOOD436EP)

Yussef Dayes has been building a series of location recordings alongside his studio output: Live at Joshua Tree with Soulection, Live from Malibu, the sold-out MT FUJI FM collector's edition with Gilles Peterson, and now this standard black vinyl pressing of the Mt. Fuji material. Each project captures the band in a specific landscape. This one was filmed and recorded at the foot of Mount Fuji with the core ensemble that has surrounded Dayes since Black Classical Music (2023).

Elijah Fox plays keyboards. Rocco Palladino, the bassist who has been with Dayes since the beginning of the Experience, provides the low end throughout. Venna plays saxophone. Rory Cashmere, who co-produced and mixed, plays garklein recorder on several tracks. The tracklist mixes reworked versions of existing pieces with new compositions written for the setting.

The collaboration with Minami Kizuki defines this record's character more than anything else. The night before filming, Dayes told the band he wanted to connect with a Japanese musician rooted in the local sound. They were introduced to Kizuki, a shimauta singer from the Amami Islands whose practice involves the traditional folk melodies of the southern Japanese archipelago. She arrived with her sanshin, a three-stringed instrument unique to the region, and played with the band without rehearsal. "Amami" and "Fuji Yama" both feature her voice and sanshin against Dayes' drumming and the full ensemble, the meeting between the two musical traditions unforced and immediate. The track titles on the pressing appear in both English and Japanese.

Mastered by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios. Lacquers cut by Jasmine at Abbey Road.