#4105: Something Is Happening with Shabaka Hutchings

Barbados-raised, London-based multi-instrumentalist, composer and bandleader Shabaka Hutchings grew up with calypso and soca, reggae and hiphop. He plays a mean saxophone (or clarinet) that might involve improvisation in Sons of Kemet - a propulsive quartet of sax, tuba and two drummers; the cosmic psych-dub-funk outfit The Comet Is Coming; and in Shabaka and the Ancestors – a collaboration with South African musicians which looks to Miles Davis, Sun Ra, New Orleans music and Afro-futurism. Hutchings was also the musical director for the recent compilation We Out Here from Brownswood Recordings (DJ and producer Gilles Peterson's indie label which encompasses soul, electronica and jazz), a snapshot of London-based “jazz”ers.

For this New Sounds recorded on location in Southeast London, meet Shabaka Hutchings and dive into his latest record with Sons of Kemet called somewhat provocatively Your Queen Is a Reptile. From Sun Ra to Pharoah Sanders, from ECM Jazz to Calypso, Soca, and Reggae, the brilliant and prolific Hutchings braves the seagulls and touches upon being both British and Caribbean, hip hop phrasing, and resisting the urge to call his music “jazz.” 

Hear music from the group Sons of Kemet, whose combination of double-drums, tuba, and sax attack may or may not touch upon techno, hip hop, grime, psychedelia, and/or jazz. Kemet (the Black land) is one of the names of Egypt, and the most recent record, their third, Your Queen is a Reptile, (Impulse! Label) invokes some historical figures: Nanny Of The Maroons – the free people of color in Jamaica, American abolitionist Harriet Tubman, British -Jamaican reformer Doreen Lawrence (whose son was murdered in a racist attack), along with Shabaka’s grandmother, Ada Eastman. It’s a charged and radical listen from the unintentionally provocative title which casts things into the realm of the ridiculous. (What Sun Ra called the first step in mental de-colonization - seeing structures that govern in the realm of the ridiculous.)

Hutchings also talks of his influences, from Sun Ra, Pharaoh Sanders, to growing up with calypso, soca and reggae, along with hip hop: Nas, Biggie & Tupac. In fact, his rhythmic delivery comes from the phrasing of those rappers. Whether it’s called “flow” “swing” or “funk” his Afro-Jamaican Nyabinghi rhythms come through on “My Queen Is Nanny Of The Maroons” .

Shabaka Hutchings talks further about being in a “foggy place of what is Jazz?” To someone who is familiar with either or both New Orleans or ECM label European jazz – the classification is broad and really could be anything with a saxophone that might involve improvisation. Hutchings is resisting the label “jazz” because it can be limiting. With his awareness of hip hop, Afro-futurism, Caribbean rhythms, history, and ability to incite dance parties, it’s anyone’s guess where he will adventure next. -Caryn Havlik

PROGRAM #4105 With Shabaka Hutchings  (First aired 4/23/2018)

ARTIST: The Comet Is Coming
WORK: Ascension [1:00]
RECORDING: Death to the Planet
SOURCE/INFO: thecometiscoming.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Sons of Kemet
WORK: My Queen Is Harriet Tubman [5:40]
RECORDING: Your Queen Is A Reptile
SOURCE: Impulse! 6736435
INFO: Available at Amazon on iTunes

ARTIST: Sons of Kemet
WORK: My Queen Is Ada Eastman [2:55]
RECORDING: Your Queen Is A Reptile
SOURCE: Impulse! 6736435
INFO: Available at Amazon on iTunes

ARTIST: Sons of Kemet
WORK: My Queen Is Mamie Phipps Clarke [5:31]
RECORDING: Your Queen Is A Reptile
SOURCE: Impulse! 6736435
INFO: Available at Amazon on iTunes

ARTIST: Sons of Kemet
WORK: My Queen Is Mamie Phipps Clarke [5:31]
RECORDING: Your Queen Is A Reptile
SOURCE: Impulse! 6736435
INFO: Available at Amazon on iTunes

ARTIST: Sons of Kemet
WORK: My Queen Is Nanny Of The Maroons [6:44]
RECORDING: Your Queen Is A Reptile
SOURCE: Impulse! 6736435
INFO: Available at Amazon on iTunes

ARTIST: Melt Yourself Down
WORK: The God Of You [1:04]
RECORDING: Last Evenings On Earth
SOURCE/INFO: meltyourselfdown.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Sons of Kemet, with Pete Wareham
WORK: My Queen Is Anna Julia Cooper [5:07]
RECORDING: Your Queen Is A Reptile
SOURCE: Impulse! 6736435
INFO: Available at Amazon on iTunes

ARTIST: Sons of Kemet, with Pete Wareham
WORK: My Queen Is Yaa Asantewaa [5:10]
RECORDING: Your Queen Is A Reptile
SOURCE: Impulse! 6736435
INFO: Available at Amazon on iTunes

ARTIST: Sons of Kemet
WORK: In The Castle of My Skin [2:!6]
RECORDING: Lest We Forget What We Came Here To Do
SOURCE/INFO: sonsofkemet.bandcamp.com