Kamaal Williams (aka Henry Wu) follows his universally acclaimed 2018 full-length The Return with this two-track 12" single that, because of its compositional and improvisational acumen, plays more like an EP despite its relatively brief playing time. A-side "New Heights New Heights (Visions of Aisha Malik)" was co-produced by Wu with Darkhouse Family (Don Leisure and Earl Jeffers) and features charts by Aly Jamal and Che Ahmed. Wu handles all of the primary instruments on this cut, driven by a deep upright bass groove, syncopated acoustic piano vamps and fills, and hi-hat and ticking snare sifting with breakbeats between cadenzas. The funk is spacy, lithe, and dark. The jam's circular groove grounds a piano solo as synth strings color the margins, transcending its jazz limits to embrace soulful hip-hop. The flipside, "Snitches Brew," with its left-field nod to Miles Davis in the title, is a trio affair produced by Wu and recorded and mixed by Syed Adam Jaffrey. It hosts the producer on synth bass, Mansur Brown on electric guitar, and the wonderful Dexter Hercules on drum kit. It's introduced by a jagged synth bass bubbling in an angular, insistent riff with double-timed snare, kick drum, and cymbals by Hercules, who is clearly seeking the tune's bleeding edge. When Brown enters with his wah-wah pedal, things get wonky. While it doesn't sound much like Davis, it does recall the more cosmic funk traverses of early Weather Report à la Sweetnighter and Mysterious Traveler. Halfway through, the tempo increases and Wu's bassline is merely the anchor as Brown uses his instruments as exploratory tools and Hercules breaks the beat, adding weight and balance to the atmospheric textures. About five minutes in, after a brief downtempo shift, Brown erupts in a colorful, screaming guitar solo while the group interplay around him swirls, recalling the sonic sprawl in Billy Cobham's "Stratus." Both tracks are killer; they bode well for a sophomore album, sure, but are well worth owning -- and listening to repeatedly -- on their own. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi

1		New Heights (Visions of Aisha Malik)
2		Snitches Brew (feat. Mansur Brown)