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José James
artist

José James

José James is a jazz artist from United States. 48 releases are catalogued on Riffiter.

Jazz · United States · Best jazz albums

4.5 /5
1 rating
48
Releases
2007–2025
Active years

Discography

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No Beginning No End cover4.5

Most popular

No Beginning No End

2013 · 13 tracks

Singles & EPs

32

Live & compilations

3

Appears on

1

Releases by other artists featuring José James.

Featured tracks

1

Collaborators

2

Upcoming shows

Jose James Sings Sinatra

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Community

More about José James

José James at a glance

Born in
Minneapolis
From
Lithuania
Instruments
voice
Labels
Blue Note, Verve Records, Brownswood Recordings
Educated at
South High School, The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music

Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Children listed are those with their own public record, so the list may be incomplete.

About

Often referred to as a jazz singer for the hip-hop generation, New York City-based vocalist José James combines jazz, soul, drum'n'bass, and spoken word into his own unique brand of vocal jazz. While he states his main influences as John Coltrane, Marvin Gaye, and Billie Holiday, his sound on early 12" singles and in live performances brought to mind such icons of '70s jazz-soul as Terry Callier, and his music felt more like an update of the fluid crossover approach of Gil Scott-Heron, while also being distinctly his own. James released his full-length debut album, Dreamer, in 2008 on Gilles Peterson's Brownswood imprint. The album ended up earning him accolades worldwide for its blend of jazz, electronic, soul, and pop styles. It placed at number 21 in Jazz Times' Top 50 for the year. Consequently, James played on prestigious stages all over the world, including those at the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Victoria Jazz Festival, Billboard Live Tokyo, Centro Cultural São Paolo, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Central Park Summerstage in New York, and London's Royal Festival Hall.

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James made numerous guest performances on recordings by the Junior Mance Trio, Jazzanova, Nicola Conte, Basement Jaxx, and Chico Hamilton, to name a few. He followed Dreamer with Blackmagic in February of 2010. In May of that year, he also made his Impulse! debut with For All We Know, a collection of standards performed in duet with Belgian pianist Jef Neve. He toured relentlessly for the next year-and-a-half, often sitting in with jazz musicians as well as headlining his own dates in Europe, Japan, and the United States. He signed to Blue Note Records in 2012, and issued "Trouble," his first single for the label in September. His fourth album, No Beginning, No End, was released in January of 2013.

José James in brief

How many José James releases are on Riffiter?
48 releases are catalogued, spanning 2007 to 2025.
What genre is José James?
José James is catalogued under Jazz, Soul.
What is the most recent José James release on Riffiter?
They Sleep, We Grind (For Badu), released in 2025.

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