Cashmere Thoughts · Artist one-sheet · August 2026
Rolling Stone UK
Winner of the 2024 Ivor Novello for Best Album. Number one on the UK jazz chart and 86 on Metacritic. 1.25 million listeners a month. Four live albums released across three continents. The next body of work is already filmed and recorded, waiting for the right partner.
South London. A drum kit at four years old. A tradition he refuses to treat as a museum.
Yussef Dayes has spent the best part of two decades being the reason people in a room stop talking. He came up in United Vibrations with his brothers, then played Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards in 2016 and was signed to Brownswood Recordings off the back of it. He broke internationally in Yussef Kamaal, and reached a wider audience with What Kinda Music alongside Tom Misch: a number four album on the UK chart, for Blue Note, in 2020.
Then in 2023 he made the record that settled the argument. Black Classical Music is nineteen tracks and seventy-four minutes, with Shabaka Hutchings, Chronixx, Masego and Leon Thomas on it, and the recorded voice of his late mother, Barbara Hicks. Her photograph of Yussef as a boy is the cover. It went to number one on the UK jazz chart, took the Ivor Novello for Best Album, and put him on the BRIT shortlist for Best New Artist at thirty-one years old.
He is not a jazz act in the polite sense. He is a drummer who tours like a band, films like a director, and sells vinyl like a label, because he owns one. Cashmere Thoughts is his own imprint, and it is the reason this conversation is about partnership rather than acquisition.
Lush, advanced and welcoming. Easily a top pick for best albums of 2023.
AllMusic · Best of 2023
An expansive, soulful set that embraces modern West Coast fusion.
Uncut · 8 / 10
The musical autobiography of a musician central to ongoing UK jazz development.
Clash · 8 / 10
An incredible, incredible body of work. Incredible arrangements, so much energy.
Nubya Garcia
Another masterpiece from a man with a discography full of them.
Loud & Quiet · 8 / 10
One of London's greatest drummers.
The Face
The album campaign, per Brownswood's own records
Verified · Metacritic 86 out of 100, universal acclaim. Chart positions per Official Charts Company, Billboard first-week positions and the campaign record per Brownswood Recordings, supplied by the label 18 August 2026. Awards per The Ivors Academy and the BPI.
One of the most electrifying live performers of his generation.
Spotify editorial biography1.25 million people listen every month. The five biggest tracks alone hold 139 million streams.
Verified · Spotify artist profile, read 17 August 2026. Streams are per-track lifetime totals on Spotify only, so they understate the real number across all platforms.
Who sits next to him
Spotify's own listener graph puts him alongside Alfa Mist, Kokoroko, Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper and Charlie Stacey. He sits on Spotify editorial across Global Groove, Jazz UK and Morning Rhythm.
Most artists tour to sell the record. He records the tour, and sells that too.
Welcome to the Hills, Joshua Tree, Malibu and Mount Fuji are released: four live records in six years, on three continents. Cape Town, filmed with two South African choirs, is next.
| Release | Type | Home | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chi Ave / A Love Letter To Salvador | Single | Brownswood | 2026 |
| Live From Mt. Fuji | Live album | Brownswood | 2026 |
| Mt. Fuji FM — hosted by Gilles Peterson | Companion release | Brownswood | 2025 |
| MALIK — Venna | Album, 17 tracks | Cashmere Thoughts · ADA | 2025 |
| The Yussef Dayes Experience, Live From Malibu | Live album | Cashmere Thoughts · Brownswood | 2024 |
| Black Classical Music | Album, 19 tracks | Brownswood · Nonesuch · Cashmere Thoughts | 2023 |
| Live at Joshua Tree | Live EP | Cashmere Thoughts · Brownswood · Soulection | 2022 |
| Welcome to the Hills — Yussef Dayes Trio | Live album | Cashmere Thoughts | 2020 |
| What Kinda Music — with Tom Misch | Album · No. 4 UK | Blue Note | 2020 |
| Love Is the Message, Live at Abbey Road | Single, 12" | Cashmere Thoughts | 2018 |
| Black Focus — Yussef Kamaal | Album | Brownswood | 2016 |
Note · Cashmere Thoughts is Yussef's own label, company number 14674090, distributed by ADA. Black Classical Music, Joshua Tree and Malibu are co-releases with Brownswood; the Mt. Fuji releases sit on Brownswood. Under the ADA agreement, copyright on the label's own releases stays with Cashmere Thoughts.
This is the unusual part. The next cycle is not a pitch deck. It is footage already shot and albums already recorded.
Full band plus two South African choirs, shot as a concert film and recorded as a live album. The first of the live series made in Africa.
A music film directed by Barker, in post-production. Distribution conversations target Netflix, Amazon, Apple and YouTube.
The third African project, planned around an overland convoy partnership with an automotive brand. Shoot date not yet set.
A full collaborative album with FKJ, already recorded. The pair have already co-headlined Central Park together, so the live proof exists before the record does.
A mixtape is planned for the next cycle.
The label owns its direct vinyl store. It is being rebuilt, with repress stock ready to sell and collector editions planned around each release.
Fashion got there first. All of it non-exclusive.
Paid partnerships completed with the houses below, including a Paris runway performance. No category is locked and no exclusivity is in place. Brand outreach runs on a commission-only model.
A partner for the next chapter, not a landlord for the last one.
The label is the artist's own. We are looking for a licence or a partnership structure, not a transfer of ownership.
International radio, press and editorial muscle behind a studio album that deserves a wider first week than the last one got.
The film slate needs a distribution partner with streamer relationships. The music and the films should be sold together, because that is how they were made.
The listener map is global and the touring is global. The paperwork should be too.
Nothing on this page is an estimate. Every figure is listed below with its source, so you can check any of it in a minute.
| Claim | Source | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Ivor Novello Award, Best Album 2024 | The Ivors Academy ceremony, 23 May 2024, shared with Rocco Palladino and Charlie Stacey. Confirmed by Brownswood Recordings. | Public record |
| Two BRIT nominations, 2024 | BPI nominations list: Best New Artist and Best Alternative/Rock Act | Public record |
| No. 1 UK Jazz & Blues · No. 4 UK Independent · No. 37 UK Albums · No. 15 Scotland · No. 8 UK vinyl | Official Charts Company | Public record |
| No. 1 US Current Contemporary Jazz · No. 5 US Top New Artist · No. 28 Heatseekers · No. 1 German Jazz · No. 30 German Albums | First-week chart positions supplied by Brownswood Recordings, 18 August 2026 | Label record |
| Metacritic 86 out of 100, universal acclaim | Metacritic aggregate for Black Classical Music | Public record |
| Review scores and quotes: AllMusic, Uncut, Clash, Loud & Quiet, The Face, Rolling Stone UK, Nubya Garcia | The named publications. Collated in Brownswood's campaign report. | Public record |
| 1,253,105 monthly listeners · 407,333 followers · per-track stream totals | Spotify artist profile, read 17 August 2026. Streams are Spotify only, so they understate the true total. | Public record |
| Royal Albert Hall sold out, 2,490 tickets in two weeks · four-star Guardian live review | Brownswood campaign report, 12 October 2023 show | Label record |
| 2,160+ radio plays across 30+ countries · Jamz Supernova Album of the Year | Brownswood radio report | Label record |
| Later... with Jools Holland · Channel 4 News · COLORS session | BBC Two and Channel 4 broadcasts, logged in Brownswood's campaign report | Public record |
| Soho pop-up, 2,000+ attendance · Rough Trade East in-stores sold out · US summer dates sold out | Brownswood retail report, September 2023 | Label record |
| Year-end lists: NPR, AllMusic, Rough Trade No. 6, Loud & Quiet No. 15, Complex UK, Boston Globe | The named outlets, collated by Brownswood | Public record |
| Royal Festival Hall, 20 June 2026 | Southbank Centre listing | Public record |
| Blue Note London, 27 September 2026, two shows | Venue listing via Spotify concerts | Public record |
| Hollywood Bowl, Blue Note Jazz Festival, 13 and 14 June 2026 | Hollywood Bowl 2026 season press kit | Public record |
| SummerStage, Central Park, 31 July 2025, with FKJ | SummerStage programme listing | Public record |
| Signed to Brownswood after the 2016 Worldwide Awards | Gilles Peterson / Brownswood Recordings signing history | Public record |
| Barbara Hicks, Yussef's late mother: voice on the album, photographer of the cover | Published interviews and features from the album campaign | Public record |
| Catalogue: release years, formats and label homes | Bandcamp and DSP label credits per release. Black Classical Music, Joshua Tree and Malibu are co-releases with Brownswood; the Mt. Fuji releases are Brownswood. | Public record |
| Cashmere Thoughts, company no. 14674090, distributed by ADA · copyright stays with the label | Companies House and the signed ADA distribution agreement | Contract |
| Cape Town filmed and recorded with two South African choirs · Ethiopia in post-production · Kenya in planning · FKJ album recorded · mixtape planned | Cashmere Thoughts project records. Not yet public. | Label record |
| Brand partnerships: Louis Vuitton, Marni, Off-White, Amiri · all non-exclusive | Cashmere Thoughts records of completed work | Label record |
| Black Classical Music sales units | Not stated on this page. The album was a joint venture with Warner Music, who hold the sales ledger. Figures available on request once confirmed. | Pending |
Note · "Public record" means anyone can check it. "Label record" means it comes from Brownswood's or Cashmere Thoughts' own campaign and project documents, available on request. Nothing on this page is an estimate or a projection.