Shabaka Hutchings

Universal Beings

Makaya McCraven · 2018

Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery

The Comet Is Coming · 2019

The London jazz scene of the 2010s produced a generation unbothered by American jazz orthodoxy. Shabaka HutchingsShabaka Hutchingsシャバカ・ハッチングス led three simultaneous bands — Sons of Kemet (founded 2013), The Comet Is Coming, and Shabaka and the Ancestors. Nubya GarciaNubya Garciaヌバイア・ガルシア brought warmth and directness to the tenor saxophone.

— We Out Here: A LDN Jazz Story (documentary), Fabrice Bourgelle, 2018

"Every time I picked up the saxophone, I felt forced to re-perform \"my sound.\" I needed to retreat back into breath itself."

On his 2024 transition from tenor saxophone to shakuhachi.

Shabaka HutchingsShabaka Hutchingsシャバカ・ハッチングス with The Shabaka HutchingsShabaka Hutchingsシャバカ・ハッチングス Is Coming performs a 19-minute Tiny Desk set with effects-heavy sax over Danalogue's synths and Betamax's drums.

— The Comet Is Coming: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert, 2019

Shabaka HutchingsShabaka Hutchingsシャバカ・ハッチングス of Kemet's full session for Nigel Godrich's From The Basement series, featuring material from 'Black To The Future.'

— Sons of Kemet - From The Basement (Full Set), 2022

Boiler Room's Mercury Prize session for Shabaka HutchingsShabaka Hutchingsシャバカ・ハッチングス of Kemet's nominated 'Your Queen Is A Reptile.'

— Sons of Kemet 'Your Queen Is A Reptile' | Boiler Room x Mercury Prize 2018, 2018

Shabaka HutchingsShabaka Hutchingsシャバカ・ハッチングス's Worldwide FM session, joined by Nubya GarciaNubya Garciaヌバイア・ガルシア and Eddie Hick for an intimate UK jazz studio set.

— Shabaka Hutchings - Worldwide FM Session, 2019

In 2024 Shabaka HutchingsShabaka Hutchingsシャバカ・ハッチングス retired the tenor saxophone from his live work and turned to shakuhachi and assorted flutes. In a long interview for The Wire he described an exhaustion at being asked to re-perform "his sound" every time he picked up the horn, and a need to retreat into breath itself.

— Shabaka Hutchings: Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, The Wire, 2024

For Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, Shabaka HutchingsShabaka Hutchingsシャバカ・ハッチングス enlisted Andre 3000, Floating Points, Esperanza SpaldingEsperanza Spaldingエスペランサ・スポルディング, and Moses Sumney. As The Wire reported, sessions began as short solo improvisations and the songs' outlines emerged afterward through editing with Carlos Nino.

— Shabaka Hutchings: Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, The Wire, 2024

"Every time I picked up the saxophone, I felt forced to re-perform 'my sound.' I needed to retreat back into breath itself." Shabaka HutchingsShabaka Hutchingsシャバカ・ハッチングス on his 2024 transition from tenor saxophone to shakuhachi. Sometimes finding what's next means letting go of the instrument.

— Statement stmt-shabaka-breath

"Every time I picked up the saxophone, I felt forced to re-perform 'my sound.' I needed to retreat into breath itself." — ShabakaShabaka Hutchingsシャバカ・ハッチングス on his 2024 shift from tenor sax to shakuhachi.

— Statement stmt-shabaka-breath