Corey King

With a 2021 GRAMMY win for his work with Esperanza Spalding and a wide-ranging career spanning collaborations with Milton Nascimento, Gil Scott-Heron, Bonobo, and Iggy Pop, Corey King has quietly developed one of the most fluid and far-reaching voices in contemporary music. His work bridges jazz, soul, experimental songwriting, and cinematic composition, grounded in both technical command and emotional clarity.
Change the Wind marks his most direct and personal statement to date. Written across a period that moved between pandemic isolation and constant international touring, the album reflects a search for stability and meaning within motion. At its emotional center is King’s relationship with his daughter, whose birth and early health challenges shaped the record’s themes of devotion, fear, and resilience.
Musically, the album moves between intimacy and scale. Sparse, close-mic arrangements give way to moments of layered brass, broken-beat rhythms, and subtle jazz harmony. King’s vocals remain at the forefront, shifting between hushed reflection and understated power, while the surrounding instrumentation expands and contracts around them.
The album’s collaborative spirit is equally central. Contributions from longtime peers and trusted collaborators, including Esperanza Spalding’s rare upright bass performance, bring warmth and depth without disrupting the record’s cohesion. Much of the album was recorded in informal, intimate spaces rather than traditional studios, emphasizing immediacy and presence.
Across Change the Wind, King transforms personal uncertainty into a shared emotional language. It is a record about protecting one’s energy, choosing connection over distance, and finding stillness within movement, a quiet but powerful reaffirmation of his place at the intersection of jazz, soul, and experimental music.