Kaidi Tatham is a London producer and multi-instrumentalist who has worked in soul, hip hop, and jazz amongst other things. He’s worked as part of the collective Bugz in the Attic, and he’s worked with everyone from Slum Village to Eric Lau. Just this past June, he released a full-length album called It’s a World Before You. Now he comes back with a four-song EP, In My Life.

The music on In My Life generally falls under the umbrella of jazz fusion, the type of psychedelic soul-jazz being laid down in the ‘70s by people like Herbie Hancock or Donald Byrd. It’s incredibly soulful, and the compositions are sophisticated without getting too complex that you get lost as a listener. Even if you don’t follow all of the nuances that Tatham has put into the EP, you can fall back on the great grooves found within each track and just bob your head along. This is all impressive enough, until you look down at the credits for the EP, and you realize that Tatham plays all instruments and handles all of the production as well. It’s tough enough to do this in any genre, playing each instrument well enough that you don’t sacrifice anything by not bringing in outside musicians. When you do this in a jazz setting, it becomes even more complicated, due to the improvisatory nature of the genre, and how hard it is to get in the groove with yourself. To do both at once, and then add these layers of instruments to make these compositions sound full is no small feat. The only help he gets is on “But You Bring It Up,” which features the beautiful and soulful vocals of Nadine Charles, who brings something to the table that Tatham couldn’t provide himself, and gives the EP just that little bit of extra flavor.

In My Life is a great EP full of ambitious jazz fusion from a talented veteran in Kaidi Tatham. He lays down some incredible grooves, builds some intricate compositions, and provides some really excellent instrumental work as well. You can’t ask for much more than that.