Moses Boyd Exodus’ frontman is the south Londoner Moses Boyd, a progressive Jazz musician leading the British jazz renaissance with his subtle but prodigious drumming skills and production work.

He’s a drummer, a composer, a bandleader, a music producer and a label owner. At 26 Boyd is a MOBO (music of black origin) jazz-award winner whose musical style is an amalgamation of grime, electronica and West African drumming traditions. Whilst growing up in south London, he spent equal amounts of time listening to the bass-heavy beats of grime as he did studying the drumming of Tony Allen. His musical influences were both Miles Davis and Dizzee Rascal’s, Boyd admits “I loved Dizzee Rascal as much as I loved Duke Ellington”.

Collaborations include Four Tet and Floating Points who also worked on his instant sell-out debut 12″ featuring the anthemic “Rye Lane Shuffle”.

“I started playing drums in my secondary school when I was 13/14 years old. At the same time, I was having a class on music production. That was a time of experimentation for me, trying to figure out how both worked together. So when it actually came to putting out my own music, I felt an obvious synergy between drumming and producing. I mixed my first two EPs by myself and did all the effects and post-production. For me, it was always about having a composition, a mix, a sound, and getting it across. It’s something I’ve always tried to better myself at, as much as I’m trying to evolve as a drummer and producer.”

Boyd was a teenage member of the jazz music education program Tomorrow’s Warriors. “Music was all I had, so for many of us, Tomorrow’s Warriors—led by renowned jazz bassist Gary Crosby—was a much-needed safe and positive space. I think it’s very important to experiment and try things outside of your normality. I try to shake things up constantly to inspire new ways of thinking and creating.”