Q&A: Britain’s Ashley Henry Blends Jazz And Vibe Into A Magical World

Britain’s Ashley Henry is a whole vibe unto himself. The brilliant composer, pianist and vocalist has crafted a magical, happy, cool aural world on his stunning sophomore album, Who We Are, out October 11. He offers a sneak peak into that incredibly inviting world today (September 6) with the sonic journey “Take Me Higher.”

Built around jazz, Henry’s latest work defies categorization the way Stevie Wonder did in his 70s heyday or Brian Wilson did circa Smile. Not that I am comparing the amiable, kind-hearted Henry’s work to those landmarks, too much pressure for such a jovial, easy-going young artist, but Who We Are does possess that same blend of musicality and swagger that transcends genre.

It is jazz based and displays superior musicianship. But this would feel like it belonged in any venue from the dingiest bar to the most elegant symphony hall.

Sage Bava and I had a long chat with Henry to have the great honor of introducing the superb Henry to Stateside audiences. Remember the name Ashley Henry. I promise you that years from now you will feel incredibly special to have been there at the beginning of his career.

Sage Bava: Whenever I listen to your music, there’s such a peace, unity. I think that music is service and the way that you create specifically is such a testament to that. The title, Who We Are, I love that so much. That just encapsulates that feeling.

Ashley Henry: There’s a track in the album called “Who We Are.” I feel like that track really, as you said, encapsulates the whole of the album, because for me, the album really represents a sense of collectivity and growth and trust. For me, being in that flow of creating things has only felt right when there’s been that trust in the moment. The songs that come to me, they always come to me fully fledged. It takes so much trust to be able to be like, “Okay, we’re not quite there yet. But this is the sound and I know at some point it’s going to come and it’s going to come to fruition.” Every step of the way that there has to be that element of trust, even down to the way that I bring the musicians to the studio to record the songs, it will be the first time they’ve ever heard it. I always ask everyone to gather around the piano. Then I play them the song. “Okay, this is how it goes. This is your part.” That creates an element of presence. It’s all about being present. Even down to when they press record, everyone just needs to be present and be in that moment and encapsulate the moment. So, it only felt right to name the album Who We Are, cause during that whole process, I was really asking myself those questions of like, “What kind of person do I want to be now?” Especially reflecting on the songs being born out of the collective world experience that we’ve all gone through for the past four or five years, and this just being a mirror to that. But at the same time, giving people a certainty of belonging so, Who We Are felt right for that.

Steve Baltin: When did you first get that feeling of belonging? Were there certain albums that helped you feel like you fit in?

Henry: We lived in a very enclosed estate, where a lot of the migrants from the Afro Caribbean community lived. My dad owned a sound system. My earliest memories were going to a record shop every Saturday. You have to have the latest records, otherwise people don’t take you seriously. My earliest memories were being in a record shop, being really little, holding vinyl’s in my hand, listening to them, really looking at it, feeling a part of it, and just seeing the effect that it has on people. My dad would have all these different house parties and things with his friends, with their sound system, and just see the effects that music has on people and what it’s supposed to do. That really instilled in my mind the purpose of what music is supposed to do. The feeling that it gives you. Music is a feeling regardless of what style of music it is.

Baltin: What are the songs on this record that surprised you the most?

Henry: I remember when I first sat at the piano and “Who We Are” just came out I put that opening piano riff. That’s the first thing I started playing and I never played it before. Then I started humming the melody and then lyrics started to come out. When I actually transcribed what I was doing and wrote them down, it was like, “Wow, this is the stuff that I’ve been thinking about in terms of being a good partner, being a good son or uncle or whatnot and being a good friend, and any types of relationships where that sense of closeness can realize who we truly are. That was one of the first songs that I finished writing. It gave me a sense of direction in terms of how the aesthetic of the album was going to sound and feel and run.

Bava: Can you tell us a little bit more about the process for you of composing, arranging, producing, and if there’s a story or two, like you just shared, with “Who We Are” of actually making these songs happen, like “Synchronicity” and your collaboration with the MPC (sampler/sequencer) and how you process all these different stages of keeping the song alive from the beginning to the end?

Henry: Wow, there’s so many layers to that because with “Synchronicity,” when I’m writing songs that are instrumental, I feel like there’s a lot more room in the sense of there’s no real contrived message per se. But I think starting with the MPC, or I always start with the drums with instrumental music, and the MPC being a device that helps me get rhythmic ideas out quickly. I would put a pattern down in that way, then I start to hum and sing melodies in my head, and then before I know it, a whole structure and then a whole sequence has come into mind, and then I’ll start to build on top of that. It’s like, “Okay, what sounds would I want on top of that? Maybe I’ll bring that idea into the studio and then bring a bass player and a drummer in and then create a bigger sound.” So, layering in production in that way. But, at the same time, the piano is still the center, and not having anything being taken away, so you’re adding but not taking away from the main melody or the simplicity of the melody. And writing vocals for myself, a lot of my lyric writing I feel like it draws to my Jamaican heritage in the sense where it’s like a lot of the old records, like Jimmy Cliff, as you were saying, or Dennis Brown, Marcia Griffiths, a lot of their lyric writing is very simple, it’s direct, very open and very vulnerable. I feel like my lyric writing draws from that tradition. When it comes to guest vocals on my album, when I make a track, I have a particular collaborator in mind. I want them to be able to have that freedom and give them room to express themselves, and not make them feel trapped or anything, but give them that room, and that inspiration for them to really encapsulate that message, whether it’s “Fly Away,” “’Love is Like a Movie” or “All For You” even. I really had a lot of fun with the collaborations on these tracks, and what they came back with is exactly what I envisioned as well. Obviously, I didn’t know exactly what they were going to say lyrically, or melodically. But when I heard it back, I was like, “Yes, that’s it.”

Baltin: Who are the dream collaborators?

Henry: I really feel Meshell Ndegeocello would be an amazing collaboration. No Name would be a great collaboration. Steve Lacey, he’s super talented. Artists that I just named, they have their own distinctive sound, style and aesthetic. But also they know how to infuse their style with other people’s styles, and come out with such beautiful results.

Bava: Simplicity meets jazz as a songwriter and as the brilliant musician you are is the most inspirational and aspirational thing, for me. I was curious in the process of allowing that space for complexity when you’re actually recording a record, how is your process in translating that to live? There’s a songwriting aspect that is very grounded and very simple, but then there’s a very complex, very free aspect. As a jazz musician, how is that translated to live?

Henry: When it comes to a live perspective, I feel like when I give my songs over to the musicians, it’s almost like I’m giving them a piece of me. I’m giving them so much trust obviously to be able to play the songs as written, but also to be able to bring a bit of flavor into it, be able to capture the moment of potentially time and space where we’re performing, and bring a bit of freedom into it regardless of what direction I decide to go in. But at the same time still paying homage to the spirit of the song and using the recorded materials like a nice guide because I feel like after I tour something for like a year and a half, the music just grows so much and you come up with different ideas and different concepts, or you just get into a thing with your band and that synergy that’s created.

Bava: Herbie Hancock says jazz is spirit. In the States we saw this real resurgence of jazz and of real instruments with Samara Joy winning the 2023 Best New Artist. We’ve kind of gone away from it a little bit to my dismay, but I’m sure we’ll come back around. I’m curious if you’re seeing that in London and Europe and what you feel is the present state of jazz.

Henry: I feel like with jazz it all aligns down to your purpose and what you want the purpose of the music to be. My partner told me this earlier actually when I was on holiday, she said, “Oh, your music is very ancient.” There’s music that’s about devotion or trying to get through life and having a sense of hopefulness or collectivity, trusts, all these things that I was talking about in terms of the purpose behind Who We Are, the album. For me, that’s the purpose of jazz, the feeling that it gives you. That’s what got me into jazz. I feel like it’s about the intention and the purpose. I feel that once people get exposed to that music with that purpose in there, that’s when that light bulb switch turns on. I just want to be able to share that feeling because I really do feel like that can really help people get through life and get through difficult moments, difficult situations. I feel like jazz always gets a resurgence once that sense of purpose of what the music is actually about comes back to the forefront. I’m very hopeful with the state of jazz. I just feel like there needs to be artists that represent the purpose of it. And how transnational it is as well. I feel like a lot of all these labels that get put on different types of jazz, or American jazz, this great American music or UK jazz, or when in reality back in the ’50s, ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, or even the 1920s when Louis Armstrong was coming to the UK and using Caribbean musicians because they had that rhythmic sensibility for the Calypso that they were playing back in the Caribbean islands. So that sense of cohesion and yeah, that transnational outlook, I feel like that needs to be implemented in the music more to keep it alive and again, reignite that purpose. I feel like that’s what Who We Are represents, and I just can’t wait for people to connect with it. And hopefully that feeling will be reignited in that sense of purpose and collectivity.