Shabaka

Over the last half-decade, Shabaka has established himself as a central figure in the London jazz scene, which is enjoying its greatest creative renaissance since the breakthroughs of Joe Harriott and Evan Parker in the 1960s. Hutchings has a restlessly creative and refreshingly open-minded spirit, playing in a variety of groups — most notably, Sons of Kemet, The Comet Is Coming, and Shabaka & the Ancestors — and embracing influences from the sounds of London’s diverse club culture, including house, grime, jungle, and dub. His most recent album, We Are Sent By History, was released to mass critical acclaim in 2020 and is described by Pitchfork as “a sonic time capsule left to be found buried in the sand by some future explorer.” A Big Ears Festival alumnus, he returns to the 2024 festival with a new project.