Label: Impulse! Records, 2021
Personnel - Shabaka Hutchings: woodwinds; Theon Cross: tuba; Tom Skinner: percussion; Edward Wackili-Hick: percussion + guests - Joshua Idehen: vocals (#1,11); Angel Bat Dawid: vocals (#2); Moor Mother: vocals (#2); Kojey Radical: vocals (#4); Lianne La Havas: backing vocals (#4); D Double E: vocals (#5); Steve Williamson: tenor saxophone (#1); Ife Ogunjobi: trumpet (#5); Nathaniel Cross: trombone (#5); Cassie Kinoshi: alto saxophone (#5); Kebbi Williams: tenor saxophone (#9).
Sons of Kemet, one of the many combos led by the British-born Barbados-raised saxophonist/composer Shabaka Hutchings (The Comet is Coming, Shabaka & The Ancestors) returns with Black to the Future, a dance-oriented fourth album that is more rooted in folklore than ever. This bubbling meld of cluttering, shuffling African beats and groove workout is reinforced with a few guest artists that help to pass the message against racial discrimination - from slavery to George Floyd’s death to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Both “Field Negus” and “Black”, opener and closer, respectively, resonate with the fervently emotive spoken word by poet Joshua Idehen. The former presents a mournful musical texture in the background, while the latter breaks out with surging drones. Both are expressions of rage and frustration.
The group incorporates different dimensions, materials and sources, and if “Pick Up Your Burning Cross” boasts an euphoric afro-beat, ecstatic horn riffery and the voices of Chicagoan Angel Bat Dawid and Philadelphian Moor Mother, then both “Think of Hope” and “For the Culture” go deep in the African folk traditions, empowered by Theon Cross’s super groovy tuba.
Featuring Kojey Radical’s rap with backing vocals by Lianne La Havas, “Hustle” embraces a ska vibe, sounding darker at first and sultry the next moment. It’s definitely not my cup of tea, in opposition to “In Remembrance of the Fallen”, a crisply arranged and rhythmically percolated piece with a Brazilian spirit and swirling flute waves.
Other two interesting instrumentals are “Let the Circle Be Unbroken”, a calypsonian instrumental with some cacophonous bursts and unexpected far-out passages, and “Envision Yourself Levitating”, where we spot afro-funk and reggae crosscurrents and an extended time for improvisation (with guest tenorist Kebbi Williams on the team), which occurs on top of a driving dance-march drumming.
The message is powerful and necessary, but not every track worked for me.
Grade B-
Favorite Tracks:
07 - In Remembrance of the Fallen ► 09 - Envision Yourself Levitating ► 11 - Black