Artist Spotlight: Anjelo Disons

One of the brightest sparks in the UK’s contemporary jazz scene, Anjelo Disons has been impressing audiences since his 2018 debut ‘Love Don’t Come Easy’. A youthful and fresh character, Anjelo’s intelligence and philosophical musings would lead you to believe he is far older than the tender 22 years he has graced our imperfect planet. Not many artists pull off the classic wistful groove better than Anjelo, whose superb vocal range, impressive instrumental nuance and heartfelt lyricism provide a basis for affecting, memorable jazz cuts.

Ahead of his highly anticipated upcoming EP, ‘The Garden’, which is due for release in June, I caught up with the man himself to discuss musical origins, his exciting collective The Oracle and an assortment of future endeavours.

Who inspires you both as a musician and as a person? 

The Oracle members all definitely inspire me in both areas. They’ve become family as I’ve spent the last 5 years with everyone, growing into a man with them as my support network. Musically they all inspire because of the general philosophy we’ve all attained to master our crafts and be the best at our instruments we can be. When I see Kaidi Akinnibi, Deji Ijishakin play the Saxophone or Dan Rogerson on the guitar, all of them virtuoso musicians I’ve watched become the amazing instrumentalists they are, I can be nothing but inspired. Those are some serious cats!! 

Where does your interest in jazz, and music in general, stem from? Did you grow up around jazz? 

 As I grew up and became more aware of music around me, I quickly realised Jazz is the foundation of all music. This realisation definitely meant that I knew it was discipline I had to explore as a musician to better myself and make sense of my instruments but I knew I had to dedicate time. I love a wide array of musical genres and feel you can learn from everything. Fusion, which most the modern stuff is, has definitely influenced me also in my writing and sonics. I’d say I became fully immersed into the world of Jazz properly by Julian Joseph OBE who runs his own Jazz academy (JJA) that not only expands your knowledge on jazz catalogue but teaches the philosophy that essentially can be used across all music to learn and play music to the highest standard. My love for music has definitely been something that I’ve had for as long as I can remember. I was very lucky to grow up in a household where a wide variety of music 

For me, jazz is all about experimentation and collaboration. How important is that collaboration for you? 

Collaboration is key across all areas in music, it elevates music to a level of detail through the energy of individual efforts on a specific task. I think collaboration, however, is always best done when people have the same intentions and drive to work together on the tunes.  

Who are you listening to at the moment? 

Been revisiting a lot of Maze tunes recently, Paul Simon, The Cavemen who are probably my favourite band right now. Madlib’s new project is phenomenal, so is Ghetts’ as well - that has been on loop since it’s come out. 

Millionz and Unknown T can’t miss for me right now. I’m always listening to The Oracle family exclusives and releases, looking forward to so many releases. 

Your recent single ‘Time’ was a heartfelt and authentic offering. How did the song come about ? 

Time was was one of the last songs I recorded for the upcoming project. Yet, to me it had to be one of the first as it represented exactly how I’ve been feeling recently. During a pandemic and a part of my life where a lot of things are transitioning, the value of time, and what it means to me, is a thought that not me and my friends have all the time, but everyone has come to realise with more time to contemplate life than ever. Nature, man made things and personal interactions all teach you the value of time and how time spent on a task allows you to appreciate the results. 

Time, like most of my songs, started in a jam with my brothers Jordan Hatfield & Wilf Cameron Marples that was recorded as a Voice Note. 

I remember going to the studio after, before I’d even written the rest, laying down for the track with both Jordan & Wilf in one take. Mula and Xvngo would eventually bless the track with their genius, bringing the song together.   

How did attending the BRIT school shape you as a musician? Has it allowed you to follow avenues that you feel like you wouldn’t have been able to otherwise? 

I’d say BRIT was a great place to experience the professionalism, competition and independence expected in the music industry. I’d say the greatest thing was the network of friends I made that are still close till this day.  I feel a lot of the things I learnt and people I met I would’ve stumbled across myself eventually, it just meant it all happened earlier in my life. 

I’d love to know more about your work with The Oracle. How did the band originate and what role do you play within the collective? 

The Oracle is a Collective that harbours forward thinking creatives and innovators alike. The Youth is our driving force as we look to innovate and always be the signpost of what is to come through all our work. 

 I co-founded The Oracle alongside Lorenz Okello and Kaidi Akinnibi as we realised that a collective full of people that care about each other’s work equally with trust was something that is very rare in the industry and especially for young people.  

We quickly realised how many talented people we knew and how bringing people together towards one common goal, philosophy and trust would be the perfect ingredients for creativity to flourish. 

Together we’ve achieved things across many areas like original films, events and digital design to name a few. 

The band was the first part of The Oracle to form as Lorenz & Kaidi were both already playing within the band. Musically, I feel we all unify on the fact that we want to push the envelope musically when we play together and want to be the best at our instruments. 

We are constantly growing and have so many things in the pipeline that we look forward to bringing to the people. 

You’ve worked with some excellent musicians and artists - who stands out for you? 

Wow, loaded question. It’s true so many great musicians I could be here for hours talking about everyone in The Oracle Collective alone. Julian Joseph OBE is probably the most influential musician on me in terms of he literally has taught me key parts of my philosophy I use to learn and listen to music. I’d also have to mention Dexter Hercules. Ridiculously talented drummer, musician his work rate is undeniable. Dexter has always pushed me to work harder than whatever I think hard is and has helped me grow through it. I respect him highly, he’s like a big brother to me. 

The new double sided single is perhaps your most impressive recent so far. ‘Lullaby’ is a gorgeous, meandering tune; how did the duet with Rasida come about? 

 Lullaby is a track that I really enjoyed process of making for this reason. Co-produced by one of my closest friends Lorenz Okello, co-founder of The Oracle Collective. The track features someone also very close to me, fellow Oracle member Rasida. Sonically it is a fusion of a more electronic synth sound with the hard knocking hip-hop drums with pocket, I’m always looking for that in drums. I’m always working with Lorenz & Rasida creatively - their talents are endless. I look forward to releasing more collabs from us soon!!! 

‘Destiny’ is a wonderfully crafted track with ethereal instrumentation. I know you said you sat on it for a while, was that so you could truly see the whole sonic and creative vision for the track and ensure the song reached it’s fullest potential? 

I really wanted the song to have a cinematic feel and the writing to truly take represent when something “aligns” in the right way for you and it feels destined. 

I wrote the foundation to Destiny originally in a session with Brando Walker & Nathan at Piano Bar Soho. Compositionally, Destiny is one of my personal favourite songs I’ve written.  After writing the song over the course of a couple of months I brought it to The Oracle Band to record at Dexter Hercules’ studio, where most of the songs for the project were recorded. We had to completely reinvent the track from the demo we made previously as there wasn’t as many live instruments. 

The songs has Lorenz on keys, Dan on guitar & bass & Wilf on the drums. 

You have your EP ‘The Garden’ set for release in June. What can we expect from the project and also what other further endeavours have you got planned?

The Garden continues to explore the concept of love, but instead chooses to draw parallels in nature to set the narrative. Nature’s beauty, selfless behaviour and its ability to move anyone emotionally is where I found inspiration for this project. The Garden has The Oracle members playing throughout the project and it was really fun to record - I learnt a lot from the process. 

I’m writing all the time with a combination of producing beats in my bedroom and musically writing and practicing with The Oracle. Creativity is never far. I look forward to the new music and expanding as a collective into many other creative endeavours.