On his fourth full-length, 2021s genre-melding Bring Backs, British pianist and rapper Alfa Mist showcases his vivid, enveloping mix of jazz, R&B, classical, and hip-hop. The album follows 2019s Structuralism, which appeared on Mists own Sekito label. For Bring Backs, Mist moved to the Anti- label, a shift that finds him further expanding his evocative brand of organic, hip-hop jazz. A largely self-taught pianist, the East London-reared Mist plays in a laid-back, harmonically nuanced style informed by 70s jazz and fusion, 90s hip-hop, and modern electronic production. Mist brings this cross-pollinated aesthetic to Bring Backs, crafting tracks that feel inspired by vintage Lonnie Liston-Smith or George Duke recordings, but with a keen, contemporary ear. Helping him achieve this vibrant, earthy sound are his bandmates, including Jamie Leeming (guitar), Kaya Thomas-Dyke (bass and vocals), Jamie Houghton (drums), and Johnny Woodham (trumpet). The opening Teki is a languid fusion number built around a sparkling guitar arpeggio that Leeming expands with a knotty, Pat Metheny-esque solo. Equally compelling is Run Outs, a dreamy, trap beat groover punctuated by Mists astral keyboard flourishes and space alien sax and trumpet lines. No less expansive is the otherworldly Mind the Gap, a woozy slow-jam rap duet between Mist and Lex Amor that brings to mind 90s, Rebirth of the Slick-era Digable Planets. More grounded is People, a lyrical and folky R&B ballad in which Thomas-Dykes yearning vocals are framed by woody guitar, percussion, and orchestral accents. Strings, flutes, and other classical sounds pop-up throughout the album, as on Last Card (Bumper Cars), a lush, midtempo number whose reedy, trumpet and sax harmonies recall Gil Evans work with Miles Davis. Mists classical inclinations take full form on Once a Year, a brief, yet languorous chamber piece that, as with all of Bring Backs, underlines his wide-ranging taste. ~ Matt Collar

Rovi