Shabaka Hutchings

Saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings has established himself as one of the leading lights of the contemporary British jazz scene with his bands Sons of Kemet, Melt Yourself Down, The Comet Is Coming, and Shabaka and the Ancestors. Born in London, England in 1984, he grew up in Barbados, studying clarinet and then saxophone. Back in the UK, he won BBC Radio 3's New Talent Competition in 2010 and began touring the London jazz scene with Courtney Pine's Jazz Warriors and Heliocentrics. He then formed his first ensemble, Sons of Kemet, in 2011, which won a MOBO Award with the album Burn (2012). Between collaborations with the Sun Ra Arkestra and Indian percussionist Sarathy Korwar, and his participation in the Melt Yourself Down collective (2012-2016), the saxophonist collaborated with other musicians in various projects including the nu-jazz trio The Comet Is Coming with Danalogue and Betamax (2013-2023), then Shabaka and the Ancestors, bringing together South African musicians. In 2020, he founded the Native Rebel Recordings label, releasing albums by new talents such as Chelsea Carmichael, Confucius MC & Kwake Bass and Kofi Flexxx. He then collaborated with rapper Kojey Radical ("No Gangster" in 2019) and accompanied Zara McFarlane, Yussef Dayes, and Amaro Freitas, among others. Following the release of the Afrikan Culture EP (2022), he released the album Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace (2024), an ambitious project featuring contributions from Floating Points and Laraaji, Moses Sumney, Esperanza Spalding, Saul Williams, Lianne La Havas, Jason Moran, Brandee Younger and André 3000, among others. The album reached number 1 in the UK Jazz Albums chart, number 19 on Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart, and number 11 on the French Jazz Albums chart.

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