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For more than a decade, Shabaka Hutchings’ fiery modalism and rhythmic stutters on tenor sax has made him a commanding presence in British jazz. Steeped in the legacy of Pharoah Sanders and John Coltrane, Hutchings won a 2013 Mobo award with avant-jazz trio Sons of Kemet and three years later was nominated for the Mercury Prize as a member of The Comet is Coming, which fused jazz and electronica. He has now put the saxophone aside to explore the breathy tones and woody textures of woodwinds and a family of flutes. He has also dropped the use of his surname.
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, recorded at New Jersey’s Van Gelder Studio, is his solo debut and marks this sonic shift with a tightly-woven original set, multiple ensembles and numerous guests. Leading jazz figures include pianist Jason Moran and bassist Esperanza Spalding. Producer Floating Points has a club-friendly turn on “I’ll Do Whatever You Want” and percussionist Rajna Swaminathan duets with Shabaka on “Breathing”.
As on his 2022 EP Afrikan Culture, introspective moods are tinged with hope and wraithlike lines gel. But now the music is more assured. The album begins with pianist Moran introducing “End of Innocence” with a sequence of moody chords and Shabaka pensive on clarinet. Clarinet and saxophone feature alongside Swaminathan’s mridangam on “Breathing”, but it is Shabaka’s arsenal of flutes that marshals the emotions of this captivating set.
The ethereal “As the Planets and the Stars Collapse” finds the leader on the Japanese shakuhachi accompanied by two harps and multi-tracked strings and isolated breaths of the quena flute conjure ghostly Andean shapes on “The Wounded Need to Be Replenished”. Later, the Slavic svirel flute intertwines with vocals from UK singer Eska on “Living” and Saul Williams’ sombre spoken word is enhanced by sparse layers of harp and bamboo flute on “Managing my Breath, What Fear Had Become”.
Shabaka’s orchestral flute is sprinkled throughout, either ad-libbed or combined variously with electronica, harps, synths and strings. It brings the poetics of his father Anum Iyapo to life on “Song of the Motherland” and supports the vocal acrobatics of US musician Laraaji on “I’ll Do Whatever You Want”.
★★★★☆
‘Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace’ is released by Impulse!
Shabaka plays at the Barbican on May 9, barbican.org.uk
