London jazz wizard Shabaka Hutchings: Sons of Kemet / The Comet Is Coming / Shabaka & the Ancestors

has he really released no solo material?

There's a fanastic track on the We Out Here complition credited to solo Shabaka. His work with Sarathy Korwar is worth a listen too. (As is SK's own stuff.)

There's a new The Comet Is Coming due in March - I haven't heard the whole thing, because like Matt DC I feel like TCIC is the weakest of all Hutchings' projects.

Bought the two Emanative full-lengths on Bandcamp today, thanks for the recommendation upthread.

Yeah my initial enthusiasm for TCIC cooled pretty quickly--it's not bad but there are fewer ideas than in his other groups. The SoK and Ancestors albums are much better.

I've been digging the A.R.E. Project record with hieroglyphic being and sarathy korwar lately, that's pretty out there, tabla & sax cosmic and pounding house bliss that in some moments sounds a bit like GAS and in most other moments very much does not. although the hectic riffage in parts of your queen is a reptile is what initially hooked me I think some of the slightly more restrained/less immediate pieces on that are gorgeous. I know the black skin, black masks track & it's great but I'd love some proper solo stuff like in that live video where he's like a more expansive and nimble colin stetson, it's just gorgeous and I guess I love solo performers more than most. following him around is a good way of getting into all sorts of stuff though, the lad really gets about! a proper hodologist.

finally got around to ordering We Out Here. p great, not sure what I like the best on it. There's one showy electric guitar-led track that I def am not into

New Theon Cross (tuba player in SoK) album sounds promising: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/theon-cross-fyah/
Anyone here heard the whole thing yet? (unperson?)

Yeah, it's great. He's got a 2015 EP with the same lineup that's also really good.

three tracks available for listening here:

https://theoncross.bandcamp.com/album/fyah

That's good to hear.
Thanks for the link sleeve, bandcamp's architecture sometimes confuses me. However, now I'm distracted by this great Moses Boyd single linked to in Beta's review: https://mosesboyd.bandcamp.com/album/rye-lane-shuffle-single. And I see he put out a whole album last year--this scene might actually be too productive lol

The Comet is Coming is...coming to St. Paul this summer and while it's not my first choice of his projects in these sometimes jazz starved parts I'm pretty excited to see him

That Moses Boyd single now sells for £££. It's seen as a bit of a landmark.

Bought the Maisha and Kamaal Williams albums yesterday. Both very very fine.

Rye Lane Shuffle is fantastic - reminds me of MRA by Brotherhood of Breath. Theon Cross is also on the new Seed Ensemble album along with a lot of other members of the scene.

new s/t Kokoroko (afro-beat 8-piece led by London trumpet player Sheila Maurice-Grey) ep is really good.

xps

yeah that tuba-tastic Theon Cross album is excellent as well.

I love this scene so much. It is so great to have jazz that is alive, culturally grounded and in dialog with the music around it.

Kokoroko album is tremendous.

I really need to get to some gigs next time I'm in London.

https://www.juno.co.uk/products/binker-golding-elliot-galvin-ex-nihilo/716654-01/

fantastic improv album with Binker Golding/Elliot Galvin that seems to have gone under the radar, it's hard to keep up with this lot.

The Theon Cross and Moses Boyd albums are both excellent. I think I prefer the Theon record aesthetically in general but Moses definitely has higher highs.

Also the N171 was my teenage night bus so I'm feeling mad affinity for that particularly Moses Boyd track. This scene in general could use more singers.

The local references are unsurprisingly appealing to me too - Rye Lane itself is closed to through traffic for the whole of 2019 so it is unusually shuffle-y at the moment, though the diversion on the number 63 is irritating.

Also "Marooned in SE6" made me laugh - you can always walk through Nunhead, dude, it's not so tricky.

Moses Boyd is from Catford so going through Nunhead might not help matters. He's probably just stuck living with his parents or something.

there can never be enough twin drum/bass/tuba combos for my liking.

or is the tuba the bass, my ears deceive me!

It seems the BBC radio documentary from last year on the London jazz scene didn’t get posted to this thread.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000t6b

going off-topic here - but on a similarish tip to the Theon Cross alb is the excellent Portuguese Tuba/Guitar/Drum trio TGB whose ace TGB III album has just dropped on Clean Feed.

I think he's running his tuba through a load of effects pedals to get some of those sounds, it's insane.

Listening to 'Drum Dance' on the Moses Boyd album now and just texturally it's incredible. Weirdly what it reminds me most of Henrik Schwarz which I'm sure is a complete coincidence and a matter of shared source material.

I'll have to be the contrarian here; Theon Cross's tuba annoys me on both his album, and on the Sons Of Kemet. Perhaps I just don't like tubas.

http://cdn5.coloringcrew.com/coloring-book/painted/201048/297b6e6f8d9a94e648c9f8dace1dffd6.png

I guess you’re not gonna fly to New Orleans and catch a brass band with a tuba in a second line parade either. Oh well.

I'll have to be the contrarian here; Theon Cross's tuba annoys me on both his album, and on the Sons Of Kemet. Perhaps I just don't like tubas.

― mike t-diva

xp - oh God, don't get me started on Hot 8!

utter savagery!

i like tubas

more jazz tubas please

Yeah, you anti-tuba people are insane.

tubas are great, though I can't deny that they, like harps, have accumulated some unfortunate cultural baggage

where are people hearing the Kokoroko album? doesn't seem to be out here in Canada yet

It comes out on Friday 3/8. I got a promo. One track is streaming on Bandcamp:

https://kokoroko.bandcamp.com/

yeah I've heard that track (plus Abusey Junction ofc), just seemed liked people were praising the whole ep--maybe more of you are critics than I realized

or nabbed it on SLSK 😈

Two tracks of the EP Re on Apple Music.

The other track I’ve really liked from this scene is Pineapple by Blue Lab Beats featuring Moses Boyd. Delightful melting pot of house, afrobeat, high life and jazz.

I will defend the honor of tubas against all challengers

I won’t say that jazz bands lead by bass instrument players are always better, but they often are.

I saw Oscar Jerome live in Hackney last week; he plays guitar in Kokoroko, but mainly releases stuff under his own name (w/Joe Armon-Jones, Moses Boyd etc). Reminds me a lot of "One World" era John Martyn - that jazzy, dubby, spacey vibe. Great stuff, and he looks about 16.

I could take or leave the tuba on Fyah, love the saxophone player

https://www.npr.org/2019/03/07/700510300/first-listen-the-comet-is-coming-trust-in-the-lifeforce-of-the-deep-mystery

I thought I should post this here as well for UK headz: Shabaka Hutchings "Vangelis/Spiritual Jazz" project, full album streaming on NPR.

N had CBeebies on the other day and it was a program called Band Jam all about music, and both the tuba players who’ve been in SoK were on! Which was unexpected but cool. N was not impressed that I have records by them and have seen them live.

Full astral flying album is now on iTunes. It definitely has its moments but there is some pretty ropey drumming in places.

I interviewed all 3 members of The Comet Is Coming for Tidal:

http://read.tidal.com/article/comet-is-coming-afro-futurism-2

I interviewed him for Stereogum about the new record, breaking up all his bands, etc., etc. It was a really interesting conversation.

yeah, that's a great piece unperson