yellow vinyl version - It's OK B U is the fourth long-player from L.A.-based keyboardist, composer, and producer Kiefer. While 2021's When There's Love Around showcased him along with a jazz band for the first time, this 16-track set is a return to solo playing, beatmaking, and production. The album's selections range from just under five seconds to five-and-a-half minutes. The music is tenderly introspective, lushly melodic, and clean with inventive rhythm tracks framing stellar piano skills. While his last outing registered firmly on the modern side of contemporary jazz (in spiritual and aesthetic kinship with John Carroll Kirby), this one claims a space on its bleeding edge. Kiefer is a key part of the current generation of L.A.-area musicians erasing boundaries between jazz, hip-hop, neo-soul, funk, electronic, and pop, calling into question more traditional notions of composition, production, and performance.
