Banger Factory Records is proud to present the remarkable debut album by an extraordinary new talent on the scene: Christ-Stéphane Boizi; a trombonist, composer and bandleader. As The Spirit Leads is a collection of his original pieces that draw inspiration from his family, his community of young players, his deep love and respect for the tradition, his boundless creative curiosity and sense of adventure, and from the bedrock of his faith.

The music simply leaps from the grooves with the energy, commitment and passion of Christ-Stéphane and his remarkable cohort of new talent: saxophonists Lauren Breen and Jacob Wilson, Kezia Abuoma on piano, and the bass and drum team of Tom Sheen and Sacha Harlan. Established young maestros Jonny Mansfield on vibes and Ruben Fox on tenor sax add their voices to the ensemble to bring ute to Christ-Stéphane’s confidently mature compositions that blend influences from the classic acoustic jazz tradition with the cutting edge of NYC innovation and the power and simplicity of church music. “When I was thinking about what to use as the core inspiration for

Everything I write, nothing really spoke to me more than my faith,” says Christ-Stéphane. “I wanted to show everyone in their best light – the band, my mentors, my influences; everything that came together to make the music shine.”

Each tune marks a point along his musical journey. The solemn rubato of ‘Lamentations’ sets the scene, with the horns declaiming the melody over thunderous backing – “It’s like how in church, we set the space, the spirit and intention of what we are about to do.”

Tom Sheen’s bass introduces the hard swinging and up-tempo ‘Raymond’, written for Christ-Stéphane’s beloved grandfather. “He’s a big Art Blakey fan! I wanted the tune to reflect his demeanour. My Grandpa doesn’t speak much, but when he does, best believe he has spent a long time formulating his response.” Lauren and Jacob show their talent with some thrilling solos alongside Christ-Stéphane’s own full-voiced trombone.

Jonny Mansfield’s awesome technical ability and harmonic imagination feature in ‘Grant Us Peace Our Father’, with its solemn, hymnal feeling evoking church music filtered through the sensibility of Joel Ross or Gerald Clayton.

For the title track, the leader’s trombone is front and centre beside some sparkling piano from Kezia Abuoma, ”Kez is such a talent and like Lauren and Jacob, a close, close friend.” The loping swing of ‘Golgotha’ with it’s shadowing from darkness to light features the unmistakeable tenor saxophone of Ruben Fox – “Such an important mentor for me – his playing is so free flowing, but also so direct.” By contrast ‘Seeds Of Gratitude’ uses a simple four chord progression to underpin a heartfelt declaration of thanks and an emotional high point of the album

“The famous saying ‘It takes a village’, is very true in my case. There are a lot of people to thank for getting me to this point. From Mark and Ruben as my closest mentors to my Mother, Maka, for grounding me in my faith and always reminding me about my journey – this is my way of saying thanks”. Finally, for ‘Sustainer Of My Faith’, all the players join together to lift their voices in a gospel-infiected celebration.

This album is a wonderfully confident debut statement, loaded wit talent and grounded in community. Christ-Stéphane Boizi and his cohort of outstanding young players give their all to each performance, so that the album shines with positivity and engages the listener from first to last.