Written by Sophie Wyatt
Cheltenham Jazz Festival is back once again this spring, and with it comes a whole host of new and exciting artists, alongside well known favourites. Marking a special milestone as part of Cheltenham Festivals’ 80th anniversary – the charity behind four world renowned Jazz, Literature, Music and Science Festivals and talent and outreach programmes – the Jazz Festival will run across six days from 30 April – 5 May 2025 with a programme that once again reflects the far-reaching jazz landscape, offering music from a broad spectrum of styles and celebrating sounds from all corners of the globe.
An artist who will be performing, who is also close to our hearts at Haste is Maya Delilah. Since interviewing the flourishing artist back in 2021, Maya has continued to solidify her space in the music world. Through performing in incredible cities, and working with other artists across a number of different genres, Maya has been able to further grow her discography and constantly growing fanbase.
Between the last time we spoke and now you’ve been flourishing as an artist, what have been some of the highlights over the past couple of years?
Ah there have been so many! Making this record has brought so much joy to my life. I have met some incredible musicians I now get to call friends and worked in some amazing places from Devon to LA and back to my home town London. Just making the music has been the main highlight I’d say as it’s always felt like pure fun.
How do you think your music has developed in that time?
Well, when I started out, I felt a lot of pressure to have a consistent sound and I always struggled to do so, so making music would often feel really frustrating. However, when making this record, I decided to stop trying to pick a lane and let whatever sound I was inspired by lead the way, so my music now has a lot more variety of style I’d say. There’s now elements of funk, folk, soul, jazz, pop and blues! I’d also say it feels a lot more raw and organic than the music I was making previously, as I mostly record with a live band onto tape.
Last time we spoke, you’d just created the video for ‘I’m Just Stupid’ on an iphone, how do you think your visuals have come on since then?
Omg such a throwback lol. That was actually such a fun video to make and still one of my favourites. We recorded it that way due to the circumstance of it being lockdown. I really enjoyed it though. Recently I made a music video (the only one for the album) for a song called ‘Man Of The House’ and It’s my favourite yet. It was filmed over six days with an amazing crew and director called Ben Harris. The concept was to show a love story from the POV of a hand (which meant wearing a very uncomfortable camera rig on my arm) but love how it turned out. I’d say it’s a lot more cinematic than the ‘Im Just Stupid’ video haha. I also made six live videos at Middle Farm Studios, where I made half the album, with a wonderful live band who I also made the songs with. I really wanted to show the environment the songs were made in as it feels like such a magical part of this record and what they sound like live!
Your music is often labelled as lo-fi, jazz, pop, how would you best describe it? How do you want listeners to feel when they hear it?
Honestly, I have no idea. I always struggle to answer this question as my music comes from so many different pockets of inspiration. I just want listeners to feel a sense of calm when they listen ! I’ve always imagined it being a Sunday morning kind of record.
What does performing at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival mean for you?
I can’t wait ! Such a great festival and an honour to be in such a great line-up.
What else can we expect from you in the coming months?
Just lots of festivals really! As well as Cheltenham I’ll be playing Fuji Rocks Japan, SoundCity Liverpool, The Great Escape in Brighton and hopefully more cropping up too!
Maya will be performing alongside a whole host of artists including trailblazing saxophonist Nubya Garcia, Leeds based seven-piece jazz electronica group Submotion Orchestra, legendary Scottish singer Lulu and multi-GRAMMY-award-winning Cor
