Saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings (the Comet is Coming, Sons of Kemet) Releases What Might be His Best Album Yet with ‘We Are Sent Here By History’ as Shabaka and the Ancestors

by josh keller · Published May 17, 2020 · Updated May 17, 2020

Fans of the new jazz scene out of London know the name Shabaka Hutchings, the saxophonist who was part of the massively influential We Out Here Comp a few years back and has since released killer albums as Sons of Kemet and the Comet is Coming. He returned earlier this year with what I think is his best work yet, the stirring, powerful genre-bending We Are Sent Here by History.

Bringing back a name he has used before, Shabaka and the Ancestors, the jazz on this 11-song LP is soulful with deep grooves, but like his other projects refuses to stand still or follow any blueprints. On the record there are interludes of spoken word poetry from poet Siyabonga Mthembu, which make a heavy album feel ever heavier. The album opens with the bombastic “They Who Must Die” and ends with the mournful “Teach Me How to Be Vulnerable,” taking the listener on a journey over the 60 minutes of the album. The hopeful feeling (‘Til the Freedom Comes Home) blend with the more dark and tense (“Go My Heart, Go To Heaven”) for a record that is as emotionally complex as it is musical dexterous.

This is a record that is firmly in the chase for my album of the year, and it seems to be a record that almost eerily captures the emotion complexity of the moment we are in. Enough of me…dive into the album below.