Grammy winning Jules Buckley releases exhilarating debut album

: by Andrew Braithwaite; in Latest; on 10 July 2021

The pioneering, Grammy award-winning composer, conductor, orchestrator, curator and artist Jules Buckley has teamed up with long-time collaborator and producer Chris Wheeler, Heritage Orchestra and percussion collective Ghost-Note to release ‘Apache’, the stunning debut single and fresh take on the Incredible Bongo Band classic. Listen HERE. The single release comes alongside the announcement that the album ‘The Breaks’ will be released 3rd September 2021 on Decca Records.

With hip hop embedded into mainstream culture, the music from ‘The Breaks’ promises to appeal across generations of music fans. There will be a string of singles released from the 15-track album, which is a stunning collection of the much-loved, culture-defining music that birthed the Breaking scene and influenced hip hop and scratch DJs in the Bronx since the1970s. ‘The Breaks’ sees Buckley assemble some stellar featured artists, from Kamasi Washington, Vula and Mr Switch, to Mattiel, Mr Talkbox and US keys impresario Cory Henry. The album follows up the acclaimed ‘The Breaks’ BBC Prom in 2019, which saw B-boys and B-girls take to the stage at Royal Albert Hall alongside Buckley, Heritage Orchestra and Ghost-Note, for an exhilarating and spectacular musical celebration.

Among the four pillars of hip hop culture, MC-ing, DJ-ing, graffiti art and breaking, ‘The Breaks’ has its original roots in disco, funk, soul, latin and beyond. All 15 tracks on ‘The Breaks’ album have been continuously mixed, featuring tunes from James Brown & The J.B’s, The Sugarhill Gang, Incredible Bongo Band, Lyn Collins, Zapp, Babe Ruth, Jimmy Castor Bunch, The Soul Searchers, Herman Kelly & Life, Kool & The Gang, as well as tracks that interweave a number of seminal samples, to delight music lovers, from cratediggers to connoisseurs.

Jules Buckley said “It’s ace to finally release ‘Apache’ from the forthcoming ‘The Breaks’ album, which has been two years in the making with Chris, Heritage Orchestra, Ghost-Note and our incredible featured artists. We are raising the bar a little more in homage to the music that has helped define the Breaking scene and cemented its place as one of the four pillars of hip hop culture worldwide. ‘The Breaks’ are the sonic blueprint for the foundation of a scene that birthed hip hop. It’s an honour to share this collection of killer music with the world.”

With a staggering discography of over 70 records, Jules Buckley has worked with some of the hottest names in music and become the widely celebrated, and imitated, originator of innovative, orchestral re-imaginings, blazing a trail across a broad range of genres with his 16 BBC Proms, including his tributes to Quincy Jones, Nina Simone, Scott Walker and Charles Mingus, the 1Xtra Grime Symphony, and the iconic Ibiza Prom, which spawned a major collaboration with Pete Tong, Chris Wheeler and Heritage Orchestra on the globally acclaimed Ibiza Classics live concerts and hugely successful ‘Classic House’ albums, released on Universal Music.

Jules Buckley will present his 17th Prom for the BBC, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the incredible Moses Sumney, on Saturday 21st August at 7.30pm at Royal Albert Hall, more info here.

‘The Breaks’ is designed to be listened to non-stop as a continuous mix, and will be released on CD, vinyl and cassette. An unmixed version will also be released digitally. Pre-order HERE.

The Breaks - Tracklisting:
1 Apache – 1st single
2. It’s Just Begun (feat. Kamasi Washington)
3. Hot Wheels - The Chase
4. Space Funk - 3rd single
5. Think (About it) (feat. Vula and Mr Switch)
6. Forty Days
7. Give It Up Or Turn it Loose (feat. Mr Switch)
8. More Bounce To the Ounce (feat. Mr Talkbox) – 4th single
9. Get On the Good Foot
10. Ashley’s Roachclip (feat. Cory Henry)
11. Dance to the Drummers Beat
12 Rated X
13 The Mexican (feat. Mattiel) – 5th single
14 Theme from S.W.A.T.
15. X Breaks (feat. Mr Switch) – 2nd single

About Jules Buckley: Grammy winning composer, arranger, and conductor, Jules Buckley has collaborated on a staggering discography of over 70 albums. Jules has curated live and recording projects reimagining styles from jazz, disco, and soul to electronica, global and avantgarde for orchestra with some of the hottest names in music including: Quincy Jones, Arctic Monkeys, Stormzy, Snarky Puppy (with whom he won a Grammy for ‘Sylva’), Basement Jaxx, Massive Attack, Cory Henry John Cale, Laura Mvula, José James, Henrik Schwarz, Benjamin Clementine, Skepta, George Duke, Laura Marling, Anna Calvi, Son Lux, Patrick Watson, Jessie Ware, Tori Amos, Caro Emerald, Joshua Redman, Kurt Elling, Chaka Khan, Jacob Collier, Mark Ronson, Bokanté, Michael Kiwanuka, Ibeyi, Cinematic Orchestra, Dee Dee Bridgewater and many more. Jules has roles with three major orchestras including co-founder and conductor of the Heritage Orchestra, Honorary Conductor of the Metropole Orkest (following his tenure as Chief Conductor) and Creative Artist in Association with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Buckley has conducted, curated and arranged twice with BBCSO at Barbican, with Paul Weller in May 2021, which was broadcast on a BBC documentary recently and will be released as Weller’s album ‘An Orchestrated Songbook’ late 2021, as well as Lianne La Havas in 2020. julesbuckley.com

About Heritage Orchestra: Chris Wheeler and Jules Buckley founded the Heritage Orchestra in 2004, a 45-60-piece non-classical orchestra, unique in its use of sound, visuals and electronics. It has rocked out arenas, messed with other people’s music and kept orchestral tradition in the cellar! The first Heritage Orchestra gig at Cargo, Shoreditch was a huge success, they signed to Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label and released their debut album in 2006. In 2010, Jules and The Heritage Orchestra made their BBC Proms debut with Jamie Cullum, returning often to present a string of high-profile performances with some of the world’s biggest names across many musical genres.

About Ghost-Note: Headed by Snarky Puppy’s multi Grammy-winning percussion duo of Robert ‘Sput’ Searight and Nate Werth, Ghost-Note is an explosion of sound with an expansive roster of next-level musicians. The band is pushing funk music into the future, building on the uplifting, pioneering foundations laid by the likes of James Brown, Sly & The Family Stone, and infusing their fresh take with tastes of afrobeat, hop hop, psychedelia, world folklore and more.