Kiefer’s father made him recite names. One of them is Sonny Clark

“When I was four years old, my dad used to play recordings of great jazz musicians and make me recite their names: John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Clark,” Kiefer says. The catalogue his father taught him from was Blue Note. In June he signed to it.

“Memory Bomb”, his debut for the label, is out on 25 September. He produced it with his longtime collaborators Shibo and CARRTOONS. The first single, “NewLevels NewDevils”, is already out, with Tony Stone and Erick The Architect on it.

The label calls his manner “Over The Breaks”: jazz improvisation laid out on a beatmaker’s desk. The guest list bears the description out — Walter Smith III, Nate Smith, Cisco Swank, Rae Khalil, Relyae, Planet Giza and Amber Navran of Moonchild.

The title is not about explosions. Kiefer says “Memory Bomb” is a poetic way of saying “a dream”, and he sorts dreams into three kinds: the ones you have asleep, the ones you long for, and the ones you work towards.

On 18 and 19 September he curates the first Over The Breaks festival in Los Angeles, and a North American tour opens on 1 October.

On that same 25 September, Blue Note also issues Sonny Clark’s trio set “The Art of The Trio” — the 1957 and 1958 sessions with Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones. The name a four-year-old was made to repeat, and that four-year-old\u2019s debut, will sit side by side in the shop window.