Ocean Floor Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Gwilym Simcock, LSO Percussion Ensemble

• Ayanna Witter-Johnson (b. 1985): Applause:
• 1 Witter-Johnson: Applause 00:17
• Unconditionally:
• 2 Witter-Johnson: Unconditionally 05:20
• Gwilym Simcock (b. 1981): All Roads:
• 3 Simcock: All Roads 02:04
• Ofei Sakyi, Ayanna Witter-Johnson: Chariot:
• 4 Sakyi, Witter-Johnson: Chariot 04:01
• Alex Webb (b. 1961), Ayanna Witter-Johnson: Falling:
• 5 Webb, Witter-Johnson: Falling 04:14
• Gwilym Simcock: Gwilym Simcock:
• 6 Simcock: Gwilym Simcock 05:40
• Ayanna Witter-Johnson: Tidal Warning:
• 7 Witter-Johnson: Tidal Warning 05:05
• Ocean Floor Suite:
• 8 Witter-Johnson: Ocean Floor Suite: Prologue 01:55
• 9 Witter-Johnson: Ocean Floor Suite: I. The Darkest Hour 05:10
• 10 Witter-Johnson: Ocean Floor Suite: II. Pioneers 04:21
• 11 Witter-Johnson: Ocean Floor Suite: III. Ocean View 04:30
• Forever:
• 12 Witter-Johnson: Forever 09:20
• Total Runtime 51:57

Info for Ocean Floor

"Ocean Floor" is the new album release from British singer, songwriter, pianist and cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson in collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra Percussion Ensemble.

The 12-track live album explores stories relating to Witter-Johnson’s ancestral heritage, culture and identity, draws on the symbolism of the ocean through storytelling.

The first single ‘Pioneers’ is out today and is the second movement from the album’s powerful three-part ‘Ocean Floor’ suite which pays homage to two moments of personal significance to Witter-Johnson – a major historical event that affected her ancestors in the 18th century in which a British slave ship The Zong was responsible for the loss of 130 enslaved people who were purposely thrown overboard, and a tragic event witnessed by Witter-Johnson in Jamaica in which a young man lost his life to the ocean.

"Ocean Floor" is Witter-Johnson’s first new album release since 2019’s Road Runner and signals the latest in a long line of collaborations with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Shortly after graduating with a first-class degree from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, Witter-Johnson participated in the LSO’s Panufnik and Soundhub Composers Schemes, and has since gone on to forge a close relationship with the organisation.

Her work with the LSO has involved numerous performances with members of the orchestra, a commission from the brass ensemble and has spanned across the orchestra’s community and outreach programmes through commissions and collaborations.

“I’m excited to finally announce Ocean Floor with the LSO Percussion Ensemble and our first single ‘Ocean Floor Suite Pt.2: Pioneers’,” Witter-Johnson enthused.

“This special project was born out of a beautiful friendship with Principal LSO Percussionist Neil Percy. His enthusiasm for my music was the catalyst for our first collaboration and subsequent commission ‘Forever’. Our aim was to create a full concert programme, which led to two further commissions, ‘Ocean Floor Suite’ and ‘Tidal Warning’.

“With the addition of a selection of arrangements and Gwilym’s ‘All Roads’, composed in response to my song ‘Chariot’, we have produced Ocean Floor as a fully realised collaboration.

“I treasure this project because I have felt continual support to express myself fully through the exploration of themes around my ancestry, family history and the ocean.”

Neil Percy, LSO Percussion Ensemble: “I first had the opportunity of working with Ayanna back in 2011 as part of the LSO’s ‘Soundhub’ scheme, which gives talented young composers an opportunity to work with, and have their music played by musicians from the LSO in a live concert.

“Ayanna’s piece featured her incredible talents not only as a composer, but her beautiful voice and amazing cello skills. I was completely blown away by her distinctive, individualistic talents, and made a point of saying to Ayanna there and then, ‘I’m sure we will collaborate together again in the future’.

“Incredibly, that dream has come true with Ayanna writing pieces specifically commissioned for the LSO Percussion Ensemble that not only showcase the talents of the group and the amazing Gwilym Simcock, but give us the opportunity to perform with Ayanna again.

“This is always such a joy; making music with such a dear friend, and bringing this music to life as a collective.”

Having collaborated with a prestigious rollcall of artists, including the likes of Andrea Bocelli, Anoushka Shankar, Nitin Sawhney and Akala, and having spent much of 2023 touring as part of Peter Gabriel’s band, Witter-Johnson is a restless, adventurous artist lauded for her innovative and experimental approach.

Ayanna Witter-Johnson, voice, cello, percussion & composer
Gwilym Simcock, piano
LSO Percussion Ensemble

Ayanna Witter-Johnson
Some composers defy succinct definition, and shoehorning Ayanna Witter-Johnson into a tidy profile is no mean feat. Her music blurs boundaries between classical and alternative RnB – two genres that rarely coexist – and you are just as likely to find her singing while playing the cello, as you are to find her pouring over an orchestral score. This remarkable confluence of styles stems from a childhood that was saturated with music of every shape and colour. ‘My Dad and Uncle are DJs and my Mum loves to sing,’ says Ayanna, ‘so I embraced a pretty healthy diet of classical piano and cello studies while absorbing pop culture, soul, jazz, reggae, hip-hop and RnB music throughout my childhood and until now.’

Witter-Johnson was just three years old when her mother spotted an aptitude for music and took her to her first piano lesson, and she took up the cello as her second instrument (now very much her first) when she was 13. She went on to graduate with first-class degrees from both Trinity Laban and the Manhattan School of Music, and in 2009 was featured as an Emerging Artist in Residence at London’s Southbank Centre.  Since then, she has been commissioned by the Ligeti Quartet, Kronos Quartet and London Symphony Orchestra, collaborated with Anoushka Shankar and Courtney Pine, and been nominated for a MOBO award. She cites Bob Marley and Stevie Wonder among her greatest influences as readily as she does JS Bach and Claude Debussy, and while many of her works chronicle her experience as a female artist in the 21st century, she is also no stranger to tackling issues of social oppression and globalisation. Her music is impossible to label (and why should we?) but its guiding principle is one of authenticity and personal truth.

Gwilym Simcock
has carved out a career as one of the most gifted pianists and imaginative composers on the European scene. Gwilym’s influences are wide ranging, from jazz legends to classical composers. Although principally a jazz artist, Gwilym has composed numerous works for larger Classical ensemble that combine through-composed elements with improvisation, creating a sound that is distinctive and very much his own.

Gwilym’s career is unique in spanning a huge range of musical settings. He has performed with orchestras, choirs, big bands, dancers as well as performing with musicians from diverse backgrounds including the classical, jazz, folk and rock traditions. Gwilym has also written music that has appeared on television and on stage.

Gwilym has led and recorded a variety of different projects. His debut album Perception was nominated for Best Album in the BBC Jazz Awards 2008 and has been critically acclaimed at home and abroad. Subsequent albums have been universally praised with reviews citing his work as 'sublime', 'flawless' and 'impressive'.

The LSO Percussion Ensemble (Neil Percy, David Jackson, Sam Walton, Jacob Brown, Gwilym Simcock)
comprises members of the London Symphony Orchestra’s percussion section as well as distinguished orchestral players with enviable reputations. If you are a classical music lover you will have heard the musicians of the Ensemble on countless LSO recordings, as well as in the concert hall. The Ensemble enjoys an international following and embarked on a tour of Japan in 2018.

Their highly successful recording of music by Steve Reich for LSO Live has become the best-selling physical product on the label in the US. Critics have been quick to praise this album with rave reviews.

If you are a film buff, you will have heard these same players on the soundtracks of Star Wars, Harry Potter, Braveheart, Notting Hill, The Shape of Water and hundreds more movies for which the LSO has provided the music.

The LSO Percussion Ensemble’s live performance of Music for Pieces of Wood has also been licensed for use in season eight of AMC’s Walking Dead. All this takes place within the context of performing numerous concerts a year at the Barbican as members of the London Symphony Orchestra, plus touring with the LSO around the world, with eminent conductors such as Sir Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra’s Music Director Sir Simon Rattle.

Booklet for Ocean Floor