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Shabaka Hutchings

Hutchings, Shabaka
Born 1984

Shakuhachi & Composer

Shabaka Hutchings (born 1984), also known simply as Shabaka, is a British jazz musician, composer and bandleader. He leads the band Shabaka and the Ancestors, and formerly led Sons of Kemet before its dissolution in 2022. He was also a member of The Comet Is Coming, performing under the stage name King Shabaka. Hutchings has played saxophone and other wind instruments with the Sun Ra Arkestra, Andre 3000, Floating Points, Mulatu Astatke, Polar Bear, Melt Yourself Down, Heliocentrics, London Brew and Zed-U.
He began learning the shakuhachi in 2020 during the pandemic.
In 2023 he made the decision to concentrate his efforts on playing the shakuhachi (as well as other etnic flutes), performing his last public concert on saxophone in December of 2023.
The album following that is Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace (Impulse 2024).