Working within the realms of R&B, jazz, and alternative pop/rock idioms can strain an artist, as it is quite a complex task to navigate between them and not stumble upon the hurdles such a combination presents.
Yet, Cautious Clay, aka Joshua Karpeh has for years now made it his task to make such a combination work. And it seems he’s been doing a great job of it, as his single “Cold War,” has since been streamed more than 150 million times. The song was featured on Issa Rae’s hit HBO TV show, Insecure, and Olivia Wilde’s movie, Booksmart, and was interpolated by Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff on “London Boy” from the pop star’s album Lover.
Eventually, his latest, quite personal effort simply titled Karpeh landed on the renowned jazz label Blue Note. And the 15 songs on this shine.
And it is just the musical combination Karpeh presents here all laced from his jazz and R&B roots and powerful songwriting that drives the albums, beefed throughout by a stellar musicians guest list that includes guitarist Julian Lage, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, and others.
An intricate genre-crossing album that will end up on many best-of-the-year lists.
