Kokoroko/Photo: Jesse Crankson
Kokoroko isn’t just another jazz collective on your Spotify daylist—they’re a new vanguard of artists and alchemists redefining what global improvised music can be. The group’s long-awaited sophomore studio album, “Tuff Times Never Last,” adds West African disco, eighties Brit-funk, lovers rock, bossa nova and more to their already impressive genre-blending résumé. Enveloped in groove and delivered with confidence, this effervescent new sound proves Kokoroko isn’t here to fit inside a tradition; they’re here to expand it.
Since their founding by members Sheila Maurice-Grey (trumpet/flugelhorn/vocals) and Onome Edgeworth (percussion), the London-based septet has turned heads with a now-signature fusion of Afrobeats, highlife, funk and jazz. Call it West African musical tradition meets contemporary sensibilities. In 2019, their self-titled EP gave us “Abusey Junction,” a hypnotic, guitar-led ballad that quickly became a streaming sensation. Their debut full-length, 2022’s “Could We Be More,” secured their standing in modern jazz. The album is a lush meditation on identity and diaspora. Live, Kokoroko is something else entirely. Electric. Entrancing. Infectious. And now, perhaps when we need to be reminded most, Kokoroko will bring “Tuff Times Never Last” to Chicago’s Thalia Hall on August 5.
“Tuff Times” arrives at a moment when its message feels especially necessary. Released at the zenith of a summer marked by stifling heat, public unrest and the ever-present shadow of political tension around the world, its blend of calm introspection and upbeat reassurance feels like a homemade rhythmic remedy. With a recipe of color, reflection, texture and playfulness, the album doesn’t just soundtrack the season—it speaks to our collective need for endurance, for joy, and, on tracks like “Never Lost” and “Closer to Me,” connection in the face of mounting uncertainty. It’s music made for movement and, as they say, for the lovers.
“Tuff Times” moves through eleven tracks like sunlight through tree leaves—warm, golden, a little bittersweet. It’s the kind of record that makes you roll your windows down even when the news is terrible. The kind that lets your shoulders drop and your spirit relax. Tracks like “Sweetie” and “Da Du Dah” might find you smiling to yourself (and everyone else) on a sun-drenched strut through the city. There’s joy in it—sometimes loud, sometimes the quiet kind you earn. It’s a masterclass in restraint and control, a slick, sonic conversation where every note feels intentional, and every silence carries weight. Each musician, Anoushka Nanguy (vocals/trombone), Ayo Salawu (drums), Duane Atherley (bass), Tobi Adenaike-Johnson (guitar) and Yohan Kebede (keys) among them, never showboats. Instead, they deftly listen. To each other, yes, but more importantly, to what each song needs. This is technical excellence in service of emotional resonance, and it makes “Tuff Times” not just well-played, but well-built.
A meticulously crafted vehicle not to escape the world, but to carry us through, these songs (and the live show they promise) land like late-night laughter on the porch or sweat on skin from dancing just because we can. It’s that healing, hopeful, celebratory feeling summer brings like no other season—no matter our circumstances. And it’s a sound rich in lineage: Fela’s protest, Ayers’ boogie, Pharaoh’s searching horn, the sweetness of highlife, the unbreakable heartbeat of survival. This sentiment makes Kokoroko’s appearance in Chicago all the more special. A meeting of musical bloodlines that have spoken to each other across oceans and timelines. Chicago—cradle of gospel, blues and jazz—knows something about turning pain into power. Chicago, and Kokoroko too, know that this is more than music—it’s memory. It’s Sunday, and protest, and falling in love, and losing something that’s yours, and getting it back in a song.
Kokoroko/Photo: Kemka Ajoko
In this way, Kokoroko’s new sound is a homecoming, echoing the city’s legacy of resilience. The ensemble doesn’t play music live—they invite it to speak through them. When the world spins mean and hot, when the truth is slippery and love often feels like work, Kokoroko gives us space and invites us to commune. To meet in a moment where geographic divides dissolve and all that’s left is the beat, the people, and the promise that no matter how “Tuff” the times, we will outlast them. Together.
Kokoroko plays Thalia Hall, 1807 South Allport, on August 5. Doors at 7pm; show at 8pm. Tickets are $30 plus fees, available at thaliahallchicago.com.
