On May 4th, 2024, Jamael Dean sat at the bench of a grand piano at 2220 Arts + Archives in Los Angeles. He didn’t know what he’d play until his fingers struck the ivory. For the next hour, he improvised a solo piano set, seamlessly weaving together original compositions, improvisations, and his reconstructions of jazz standards. Oriki Duuru is an unabridged recording of what unfolded that night – it releases digitally on May 9th, 2025. Vinyl will be available for pre-order soon.
Listen: Jamael Dean – “Paradox”
Pre-save: Jamael Dean – Oriki Duuru
A prodigious jazz talent whose past work has incorporated full bands and hip-hop beats, Jamael Dean returns to his piano roots on Oriki Duuru. “Paradox”, the first track to be released, is an original piece. Beginning gently, it builds to a cathartic climax.
Jamael’s concert at 2220 was curated by Harmony Holiday, who also wrote the liner notes for this record. A jazz archivist herself – she once interviewed Jamael alongside his grandfather, jazz drummer Donald Dean – Holiday places Jamael amongst “the greatest jazz pianists of all time.” She views Jamael as both an heir to a musical tradition and a defiant innovator unbound by expectations.
“He manages to inscribe new thoughts in the music’s syntax and reimagine its grammar without any of that infrastructure and built-in fanfare,” Harmony writes.
Jamael’s music draws heavily on Yoruba tradition, which informs everything from his composing to his recitation. Oriki Duuru is Yoruba for “piano poems”. Like his forebears, Jamael treats his piano as a window into his world, a tool for expressing struggles, growth, and that which he holds dearest.
