Peter Somuah spins tales that come from his instrument: as a young trumpet player, he embarked on a fascinating search for his identity between the Highlife music of his native country, Miles Davis – his idol – and the cosmopolitan musical language of Holland, the country which is now his home. He tells that story in ‘Letter to the Universe’.

With his new album, Peter Somuah has ventured further out into the musical cosmos as a travelling storyteller. His new compositions reflect the stages of his young life: his Ghanaian past, the work of his jazz idols and the lively ‘Afropean’ scene of his new home in the Benelux.

In the pulsating and frenzied album track, ‘Mission on Earth’, one can read an unmistakable dedication to Miles Davis’s ‘Bitches Brew’ phase, and also an echo of the layered architecture of today’s cosmic jazz as played by the likes of Kamasi Washington. That track is also a perfect demonstration of quite how tight and organic the interplay is with his Dutch band with keyboardist and producer Anton de Bruin throughout the album.

To follow Peter Somuah on his quest between the continents of Europe and Africa is something totally refreshing and unexpected, particularly for European ears. What the young Ghanaian has done is to bring his own new and previously unheard stories to the cosmopolitan jazz of the 21st century. This is an open- ended journey, which makes it all the more exciting to find out where Somuah’s story is going to take us.