Alexis Ffrench, often called a ‘classical-soul pioneer,’ is bridging the gap between popular and classical music with his unique sound. His latest album, Classical Soul, Vol. 1, reflects both his early influences and his impressive artistic journey. With nearly half a billion streams and performances at venues like the Royal Albert Hall and the coronation of King Charles, Alexis continues to leave his mark on the music world.
Joanna Forest: The fusion of classical and soul is so important to you. It’s been something that you’ve talked about for a very long time. Why was it so important for you to make this album?
Alexis Ffrench: Classical Soul, Vol. 1 is a synthesis, an expression of my earliest musical awakenings—listening to music from my earliest teachers: Sam Cooke, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye—all of those people I remember sitting there in wide-eyed wonder, listening to and imbibing their inspiration. I also derived a sense of pride and identity from listening to this music. It was really formative. I used to practice and improvise on the piano on a wooden kitchen table. I was about four, playing Stevie Wonder, but also understanding the music, deconstructing the music, with what I later knew was perfect pitch—understanding harmony and complex harmony. So for me, soul music was extremely foundational and really powerful in terms of my musical progression. Then at age five—or four and a half—I graduated to a real piano, finding I could play the piano because of the kitchen table and Stevie Wonder. By five, I was also a classical student, playing church organ at seven years old. So the album for me is a portrait of my earliest musical beginnings and the wonder I felt while sitting and listening to this music. I wanted to share and bring some of those soulful inner symphonies to people and hopefully create something beautiful for listeners to enjoy.
Joanna Forest: Well, it is so beautiful, absolutely incredible! I wanted to ask, when it comes to your composing, is this something that you think of in your head, that you can hear and then recreate at the piano? Or is it something that you’re improvising and then see what happens and where it takes you? Like, “Ah, I wasn’t expecting it to go there, but it has.” Or is it a mixture of the two?
Alexis Ffrench: No, it’s never a “see what happens.” I play what I hear. From those early days of understanding music, I came to realize that I could improvise in the style of composers I heard. So if I hear something on a record, I can synthesize the DNA of that composer, whether it’s Mozart, Beethoven, or Stevie Wonder. I can play in a style or improvise in an original style, creating a new piece as if it were by that composer. Coming to understand those skills as a youngster was very key in developing my own voice as a composer. But at all times, when I compose or improvise, the sound is already heard—so it’s just playing what I’ve already heard in my mind’s eye. It’s never a “suck it and see” situation. It’s “hear it and play it.”
Joanna Forest: How would you put into words what the piano means to you?
Alexis Ffrench: The piano is how I make sense of the world. Music is how I make sense of the world. People often say music is defined as organized sound. But for me, growing up, I remember hearing the world, hearing nature, hearing the collage of everything around me as organized sound. Even though it was aleatoric in a sense—there’s a certain amount of chance in the way a building operator might drop a spanner at the same time a car goes by—I remember hearing those sounds and organizing them in my head, as if music were something you could pull from the air. That’s what I tap into, particularly when I’m improvising: this sense of the metaphysical, which might sound ‘airy-fairy,’ but to me, it’s very real.
Joanna Forest: You made this beautiful album in a very beautiful place, in Provence, in a recording studio owned by none other than Brad Pitt. Do you think the album would have sounded different if you’d made it somewhere completely different?
Alexis Ffrench: I do. Miraval is an extraordinary place, crafted and curated by extraordinary people. By extraordinary people, I mean Damien Quintard, this young superstar audio engineer, innovator, entrepreneur, in partnership with Brad Pitt. Brad is not only a superstar actor and producer but also a deeply committed champion of the arts. There’s a place there where artists can hone their craft—sculptors, painters. They even make their own wine, a beautiful rosé. So, creativity is at the core of everything, from the land to the studios, to the buildings, and the air everyone breathes.
Although I was very busy in the studio, there’s a sense of suspended time from the moment you drive through the vineyards. And there’s this spirit of kindness that runs through the place. It’s just the most wonderful atmosphere. Miraval is also steeped in history, with countless artists, incredible names who recorded there. It’s been brought to life again, and now all kinds of artists—hip-hop stars like Travis Scott and others—go there. It’s not just a classical space; it’s a space where people create music they believe in.
I feel really honored to have sampled that experience. That’s where the album began. We then recorded in LA with Kevin Olusola and Pentatonix, Abbey Road, London, Paris, and the Congo, where we had Fally Ipupa, the incredible Congolese star who features on the track “Source.” So, it’s a global record with many cultural influences. But if I could bottle up the sound of Miraval and show people, it would be the track “Reverie”—it’s very much imbued with the sound of Miraval.
Joanna Forest: When you are composing, what makes you decide, “On this track, I need an orchestra,” versus thinking, “This will just be piano”? What elements do you think an orchestra brings to certain tracks?
Alexis Ffrench: That’s very much a production question. For me, performing, composing, and producing are all interconnected, so I don’t divide them. From the beginning, when I’m writing, I know if I need a bass player, a string quartet, or someone who can whistle in a certain way. It’s like painting with sound. For example, on a piece like “Everything Changes,” I wanted something with a pop sensibility but also alluding to that vivid, panoramic, technicolor sound we used to hear in old movies. I wanted to capture that soundscape, and we recorded it with Gabrieli-type strings, where the violins face each other rather than being next to each other. So I think about all these things during the process: How do I want the orchestra to sit? How do I want this to sound in spatial audio? Where should the microphones be placed? Where should the conductor stand? How can I communicate with the bass player to get the best sound?
Joanna Forest: Yes, because if you’ve heard it in your head, you want them to play it the way you’ve imagined it. So I suppose that’s a lot of describing and making them feel what you’ve been feeling.
Alexis Ffrench: It’s being descriptive, but it’s also about making them feel special. It’s simple, but it’s about making people feel like a million dollars—that they’re the only people in the world who could do this, and quite often they are! I go to Fally Ipupa because his voice is the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard. I work with Oli Jacobs because he’s an incredible mixing engineer. Or I go to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra because their timbre is timeless. All of these things are amazing.
Joanna Forest: You recently performed on Strictly Come Dancing. Are there a lot of emotions before playing on such a huge TV show?
Alexis Ffrench: Strictly is such an iconic show, and I’ve been a fan for many years. I was so excited to grace the Strictly stage as a musical guest, and amazed at what the professional dancers conjured up! It’s always a thrill to share the music I love, and I loved playing my arrangement of the timeless theme from the movie The Piano on one of Britain’s most-loved TV shows.
Joanna Forest: Also… Classical Soul Vol. 1—does that mean we can look forward to a Vol. 2?
Alexis Ffrench: I’m thrilled to share my new album Classical Soul Vol. 1 with the world. It’s a classical album, borne from the echoes of soul classics reframed through a wellspring of timeless melody—tethered to my classical story—and I hope it connects with listeners’ inner symphonies.
I’ll be on a world tour with Classical Soul Vol. 1 for most of 2025 and can’t wait to connect with concert-goers in the live space. As for future albums, that’s a little way off. But the exciting thing for me about albums is that they present an opportunity to tell stories of infinite possibilities.
‘Classical Soul Vol.1 by Alexis Ffrench is out now (Sony Music Masterworks)
