London Jazz Award nominee Ola Onabule: 'I feel I should be acutely trained on the zeitgeist... that's my job as a singer songwriter. The song 'Desperate Ones' for instance is about a premonition I had of the rage, the frustration and the malcontent that was silently enveloping the streets of London, a rage that would build until people felt like everything had to be razed to the ground. Sadly, the song proved to be prophetic.'

Please could you tell us a bit about the inspiration behind your new album Seven Shades Darker.

Seven Shades Darker is my 7^th studio album, so appropriately named for that very reason... as well as for the fact that the songs on this album reflect that nowadays, I feel the things I'm passionate about more intensely and by the same token... I find that almost everything else fades into inconsequentiality. This is reflected in the songs on the album which I think venture into darker places I didn't even know existed as a younger man.

Rugged Ram Records is your own label, why did you decide to take that route?

I've been releasing my albums through my label Rugged Ram Records for almost 2 decades now. I was motivated to set up the label after a short stint at a major record company.  All that seemed to be on offer at the time was to present myself as a one dimensional caricature, a slick 'loverman' soul dude. I wanted to write songs that encompassed more than I was able to with a major label. I soon realised that I had no choice but to strike out on my own.

Do London or your surroundings at the time of composition influence the work you do?

Absolutely! I write about things that are happening around me, often in the present tense. London, the UK and indeed the world are alive with drama at the moment. I feel I should be acutely trained on the zeitgeist... that's my job as a singer songwriter.  The song 'Desperate Ones' for instance is about a premonition I had of the rage, the frustration and the malcontent that was silently enveloping the streets of London, a rage that would build until people felt like everything had to be razed to the ground. Sadly, the song proved to be prophetic.

What do you think is key to being a successful jazz artist?

If success means being the best creative entity one can be then I would say an unrelenting search for a searing honesty and truth in the work will get one pretty close to success.