Shabaka

Shabaka Hutchings is a composer, flutist, saxophonist, and clarinetist. He was a key figure in bringing England's 21st century jazz scene to the fore as a member of the Heliocentrics. He led the disbanded Sons of Kemet for Your Queen Is a Reptile (2018) and Black to the Future (2021). Shabaka and the Ancestors, a South African jazz project, charted internationally with 2016's Wisdom of Elders and 2020's We Are Sent Here by History. Hutchings co-led the electro-acoustic, avant-futurist, jazz-rock-dance trio the Comet Is Coming, who issued two acclaimed albums in 2019. On hiatus from saxophone, he released the flute-focused Afrikan Culture as Shabaka in 2022, followed in 2024 with the collaborative flute-and clarinet-focused Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace and Shabaka's Possession EP. Another collaboration-rich offering, it included pianist Nduduzo Makhathini, Andre 3000, and Esperanza Spalding. In March 2026 he released Of the Earth, performed and produced completely solo.