Operating from London, Jake Ferguson handles duties on bass and guitar, writes and produces material, and campaigns at the forefront for racial justice alongside social equity. He joined forces with longtime associate Malcolm Catto to launch the Heliocentrics in 2005, an ensemble steeped in psychedelic and deep jazz-funk textures. Ferguson also established, directs, and oversees production for the Black consciousness R&B outfit The Brkn Record, whose first album, The Architecture Of Oppression Part 1, surfaced in 2021 on Mr. Bongo. He further performs in the Soul Destroyers with Adrian Owusu and Catto.
His work with the Heliocentrics includes performing on and co-producing more than a dozen projects, among them every release by the group and its internationally recognized partnerships with figures such as Mulatu Astatke, Lloyd Miller, Orlando Julius, and Melvin Van Peebles. Alongside Catto he wrote the scores for OST, the soundtrack to a documentary on Miller issued as Lloyd Miller & the Heliocentrics, as well as The Sunshine Makers.
In May 2023 Ferguson co-produced Legna in tandem with Gaslamp Killer and the Heliocentrics. August brought Emotions Run Dry, the first album issued under his own name and featuring Catto as a guest, on Madlib Invazion. The set delivers an atmospheric, stylistically wide-ranging instrumental collection that moves freely through psych, funk, hip-hop, and dub.
