Shabaka Hutchings is a composer, saxophonist, clarinetist and flutist. As a bandleader he helped put England's 21st century jazz scene on the map. He worked with
Courtney Pine's
Jazz Warriors, was a founding member of
the Heliocentrics. He signed a blanket deal with the U.S.-based Impulse! to record his own groups, including the modernist
Sons of Kemet, who issued 2018's
Your Queen Is a Reptile and 2021's
Black to the Future. Further, Shabaka and the Ancestors is a jazz project based in South Africa. They charted internationally with their 2016 debut,
Wisdom of Elders, followed by 2020's
We Are Sent Here by History.
Hutchings also co-leads the electro-acoustic, avant futurist jazz-rock-dance trio,
the Comet Is Coming, who released the widely acclaimed
The Afterlife, and
Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery in 2019. In 2022 he released the completely solo EP
Afrikan Culture.
Hutchings was born in 1984 in London. He moved to Barbados at the age of six, began studying classical clarinet at age nine, and saxophone a year later. After returning to the U.K., he was granted the title of BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist in 2010, allowing him to undertake numerous commissions, as well as broadcast performances on radio (including those of his own group,
Sons of Kemet). In July 2013,
Hutchings received a commission from the Leasowes Bank Music Festival to write a piece for clarinet and string quartet. He performed this piece with the Ligeti String Quartet to rave reviews.
Sons of Kemet released their debut album,
Burn, and won the 2013 MOBO Award for Jazz Act of the Year.
Hutchings was nominated for Jazz Musician of the Year in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards. The following year, he was invited by
Marshall Allen to join
the Sun Ra Arkestra. He performed with them and recorded a session for the BBC's Radio 3, and was a recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Composer Award.
In January of 2015,
Hutchings traveled to South Africa to record a project with native jazz musicians. He also received a commission from
the London Sinfonietta to write a "note to the new government" and was Associate Artist for the Spitalfields Summer Festival. The second
Sons of Kemet album,
Lest We Forget What We Came Here to Do, was released in September on NAIM, and an electronic trio project,
the Comet Is Coming featuring
Hutchings,
Dan Leavers, and Max Hallett, released its first EP on the Leaf label in October. The following spring, the group released its full-length
Channel the Spirits to massive critical acclaim and a Mercury Prize nomination.
Hutchings served as a core member of percussionist/producer
Sarathy Korwar's group on the acclaimed
Day to Day. It featured the modern jazz and electronics group performing with the Sidi Troupe of Ratanpur, and was recorded in India and London. The album was released on Ninja Tune during the summer of 2016.
Wisdom of Elders, an album by
Hutchings' South Africa project Shabaka and the Ancestors saw issue by
Gilles Peterson's Brownswood label in the early fall. While in the African nation he also met and contributed to South African jazz pianist
Nduduzo Makhathini's seminal Icilongo: The African Peace Suite.
Over the next couple of years
Hutchings facilitated collaboration among musicians of various disciplines across the London scene. In 2017 alone he contributed to
Yazz Ahmed's
La Saboteuse,
Zara McFarlane's
Arise, a self-tilted offering by Alexander Hawkins' Unit(e), and two
Heliocentrics' outings:
World of Masks and the original soundtrack for
The Sunshine Makers.
That fall,
Hutchings signed a deal with the iconic U.S.-based Impulse! label, recording home to
John Coltrane,
Alice Coltrane,
Pharoah Sanders,
Archie Shepp, and dozens of others. His March 2018 debut was
Sons of Kemet's internationally acclaimed
Your Queen Is a Reptile which he also co-produced. That year he and
Nubya Garcia took part in the London gigs recorded for drummer/producer
Makaya McCraven's
Universal Beings project.
Hutchings also took part in the sessions for South African drummer
Louis Moholo-Moholo's Five Blokes' Ogun recording, Uplift the People.
In April 2019,
Hutchings played a key role on
Angelique Kidjo's international smash
Celia, her personal tribute to the artistry and influence of Afro-Cuban singing legend,
Celia Cruz. It was the only session work he did that year as he remained very busy with
the Comet Is Coming who released two albums,
Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery in March, followed by the six-track
The Afterlife. They also toured behind them.
Hutchings' different musical personas were hatching projects regularly. He returned to South Africa that fall and with the Ancestors (that included
Makhathini in the lineup) recorded
We Are Sent Here by History. It was issued by Impulse! in March 2020 and in addition to his composing and playing, it listed
Hutchings as sole producer. He also appeared on a slew of recordings including albums by
Sibusile Xaba,
Moses Sumney, Keleketla!, and Shake Stew. In March 2021,
Sons of Kemet issued the African Cosmology EP. It paired the mid-length "Myth Science" with the 12-minute "Rites of Passage." They followed it in May with the charting
Black to the Future.
Hutchings also played a key role on British/Trinidadian poet
Anthony Joseph's
Heavenly Sweetness long-player The Rich Are Only Defeated When Running for Their Lives. He also played on 2022's Break a Vase by Alexander Hawkins Mirror Canon for
Intakt, and released the completely solo EP
Afrikan Culture in May. ~ Thom Jurek