Tobi Dada is a jazz pianist and musician with a refreshing sense for the genre. The artist sets up a soundscape rich with melodic nuance and an immersive expanse, both playing out to fill out the atmosphere in an intentional way.
His latest release is ‘Oluwatobi’, an album that represents Tobi’s interpretation of jazz. Ambient, expressive and composed to carry the theme liltingly, the listener is misted pleasantly with the sweet flows of the jazz piano.
When you listen to tracks like ‘Polka Dots and Moonbeams’ or ‘My Old Flame’, Tobi Dada slows down the rhythmic pace and turns up the melodic chromatics. He ushers in the romanticism of the theme into the composition and allows that mood to craft the essence of the flow. In the former track, he uses singular drops of piano melody across the composition, swirling them in a soft dreamy cast that takes you back to the silvery light of moonshine. In My Old Flame, he allows the nostalgia, flirtatious dynamism and thoughtful retrospectives to flow into each other, simmering with a light reverie.
There are a few covers that he makes part of the album. Tracks like ‘The Girl From Ipanema’ and ‘Fly Me To The Moon’. Classic compositions that he interprets with his unique melodic style and flow. The dancing keys blending into a moody scene. He uses the original compositions as a starting point, leaping out playfully into tangents that take you wandering islands of feeling. He brings in rustic beats and the Nigerian talking drum within the jazz scene, playfully extending its application to elevate his themes.
Two of the artists who have influenced Tobi Dada in a big way are Barry Harris and Duke Jordan. Their ability to make jazz their own, to curate feelings and emotions that are personal to them, unique to them. That’s what he draws from them. He pulls from the traditional form what he likes and then develops the style with his own personal flair. That brings a fresh language to the genre.
In ‘Everything Happens To Me’ and ‘My Ideal’, you’ll really get to see the language take form. The artist takes his liberties and wanders the soundscape, taking us to such intimate spaces of stillness and activity. ‘Take Five’ concludes the album with its fast, trilling flows. It is spontaneous and free, forming with its own rules. Charming, sometimes outrageously free and other times, it’s groovy with a little bit of a playful dance to it.
Across the album, the artist creatively asserts his artistic sensibilities, exploring them in ways that remain true to him and his experience. Listen Now!
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The track is available for streaming on popular sites like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music!
You can listen to ‘Oluwatobi; by Tobi Dada here -
