In my own words what ‘El Roi’ is purposed to do…
This album is my way of expressing thoughts and emotions that I have about two very important concepts: Faith and identity. The word ‘El Roi’ is one of the many names for God in the bible. It means ‘God of Sight’ The title binds together these two themes well. ‘God’ referring to faith and ‘sight’ referring to how one is seen and how you perceive the world around you.
The idea of ‘faith’ was firstly tackled in my debut album ‘Faithful One’ and is inspired by faith-based experiences like: prayer and giving thanks.
With the 2nd album I’m addressing the same theme in a different way. Tracks 3 through till 7 are all part of a suite I wrote for piano trio back in 2022 entitled ‘Those Who Believe’ the idea is to take the listener on a journey from a place where there is no hope/belief and transform them to a place of total faith. This journey takes place through 5 tunes and is explored through improvisation and the variety of recurring motifs and themes embedded in the 5 compositions.
Identity is primarily explored through the remaining three compositions on the record which feature tenor saxophone and trumpet. ‘Unspeakable Happiness’ is a phrase taken from 12 years a slave in which the enslaved protagonist describes freedom as ‘Unspeakable Happiness’ This was his attempt to redefine his identity which is a subject I wanted to portray in this piece, one’s ability to redefine who they are, how identity is an ever-changing thing often. ‘Region in my mind’ focuses on the inner self and how that may be the only constant thing – the spirit. The record concludes with ‘El Roi’ which is a kind of summary and way to explore the intersection between the two themes.
I hope people will firstly appreciate what they listen to. Much of this record is related to ‘Faithful One’ I wrote ‘El Roi’ to be a sequel with similar themes but explored in a deeper and more concise way. Like the debut album there’s a big nod to Gospel music in the titles and the musical stylings.
‘El Roi’, Vinyl, CD & Digital Download
‘El Roi’, the 2nd album OUT NOW. ORDER HERE!
The Visual Language of ‘El Roi’
What makes these records distinctive is not only the music but also artwork design. This album reunited Sultan and Lottie Mac for a deeper delve into the relationship between improvised painting and improvised music.
The colour and tone of the artwork for ‘El Roi’ is darker and more intense than that of Sultan’s debut album ‘Faithful One’ It reflects that of the music, Sultan’s compositions in ‘El Roi’ are much alike ‘Faithful One’ but darker and more exploratory. He wanted this to be conveyed in the visual language of the release.
The album launch at The Southbank Centre…
On April 4th 2025 Sultan Stevenson launched his 2nd album live at The Purcell Room of The Southbank Centre. The show sold out weeks before. Sultan didn’t just want this to be a musical performance but instead a celebration of the work in all of it’s artistic vantage points. The night opened with a discussion between Sultan, Lottie Mac (artistic director for the album artwork) Jenniah-Mae Lynch (photographer) Genesis Tennison (assistant) Leroy Boateng (film maker) They conversed upon many topics but most importantly the process of creating a visual language. This half concluded in a film documenting the making of the record, it was commissioned especially for the night and was made by Leroy Boateng.
The 2nd half kicked off with an introduction by Gordon Wedderburn (GW Jazz) What followed was a reuniting of the personnel from the record - Joel Waters (drums) Jacob Gryn (bass) Josh Short (trumpet) and Soweto Kinch (saxophone) The band played the whole record in track order and were greeted throughout with warmth, energy and love from The Southbank audience. Below photos by Daniel Devlin.
On the night Sultan was wearing clothes by WAX London and Beyond Retro, Sultan kindly thanks them aswell as Platform Creative for the super hip and fly clothes!
‘El Roi’ on tour…
Following the release and launch of the record Sultan is now set to play the music around the world in many countries including: France, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and of course in his home country UK. This is Sultan’s 1st album tour and what he hopes will be the 1st of many. Hopefully he will appear in a city near you…
