Photo Credit: atibaphoto
DEBUT SOLO ALBUM, PERCEIVE ITS BEAUTY, ACKNOWLEDGE ITS GRACE, OUT NOW ON IMPULSE!
“Maybe the most essential listening of the week, if not the year. This music is so transporting.”
— Robin Hilton, NPR Music
“Richly textured and sonically varied.”
— The Wall Street Journal
“Throughout Perceive its Beauty, we hear him confidently stepping outside the boundaries not just of jazz but of any easily defined genre and finding a firm footing.”
— Pitchfork
“‘I’ll Do Whatever You Want’ is ominous and gorgeous in equal measure, subtly building into something rich and resonant.”
— PAPER
“Hutchings stays self-effacing, guiding the flow.”
— The New York Times on “I’ll Do Whatever You Want”
Shabaka, the multi-instrumentalist and former bandleader for heralded groups such as Sons of Kemet, The Comet Is Coming, and Shabaka and the Ancestors, shares a new track/video for “Insecurities” off of his debut solo album Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace, out mow via Impulse!/Universal Music Canada. Featuring Shabaka on flute, the track features vocals from Moses Sumney alongside Charles Overton on the harp, gently unfolding as Sumney’s vocals float over plucked harp strings and Shabaka’s flute. The song’s video, directed by Lauren Luxenberg, cuts between Shabaka freely dancing and crashing ocean waves, as if both are one with the energy of the number.
“‘Insecurities’ is the second video I’ve had Lauren Luxenberg direct (the first being ‘Call it a European Paradox’ from the Afrikan Culture EP). It’s the first time I’ve incorporated my own movement in conjunction to my sounds” explains Shabaka. “I’ve been a fan of Moses Sumney since 2014 when I first saw him perform at SXSW. We kept in touch since then and I’ve contributed to his album grae and EP Black in Deep Red. The title of the track is a part of a bigger narrative understood by regarding all the song titles and sounds from the album as one unified piece.”
Having put the saxophone down to devote his studies and energies towards softer woodwinds, Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace is, in a sense, a debut album. And yet, the album also serves as a reintroduction to the artist, a levitating, stunning work chock full of the lessons he’s learned over the course of his life and career. It represents the spirit of exploration that the artist is most tapped into these days. With contributions on the record from Brandee Younger, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Saul Williams, Elucid, André 3000, Esperanza Spalding, Laraaji, Floating Points, Moses Sumney, and more, Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace is a grand artistic statement from Shabaka, impossible to classify into genre, and bottomless in its exploratory curiosity.
Pre-order Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace
Watch The Video For Shabaka’s “End Of Innocence”
Watch the Visualizer for Shabaka’s “I’ll Do Whatever You Want”
Shabaka Live Dates (Tickets Available Here)
Sun. April 21 – Philadelphia, PA @ Solar Myth
Mon. April 22 – Philadelphia, PA @ Solar Myth – SOLD OUT
Tue. April 23 – Brooklyn, NY @ National Sawdust – SOLD OUT
Tue. April 23 – Brooklyn, NY @ National Sawdust (late show added)
Sun. April 28 – Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Fri. May 3 – Amsterdam, NL @ Bimhaus
Sat. May 4 – Liege, BE @ Trocadero
Mon. May 6 – Paris, FR @ New Morning
Wed. May 8 – Berlin, DE @ Emmauskirche
Thu. May 9 – London, UK @ Barbican=
Thu. May 30 – Sat. June 1 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
Wed. June 12 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Thu. June 13 – San Francisco, CA @ SFJAZZ
Fri. June 14 – Phoenix, AZ @ Musical Instrument Museum
Sat. July 6 – Montreal, CA @ Montreal Jazz Festival
Sun. Aug. 4 – Newport, RI @ Newport Jazz Festival
Wed. Oct. 23 – Madison, WI @ Wisconsin Union Theatrer
Sat. Nov. 2 – Torino, IT @ C2C Festival
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