Sons Of Kemet

Sons of Kemet are a supergroup formed in 2011, made up of four of the brightest stars on the British jazz scene: Shabaka Hutchings (clarinet, saxophone), Tom Skinner (drums and percussion), Theon Cross (tuba) and Seb Rochford (drums and percussion). The result is a revolutionary blend of jazz, rock, dub and Caribbean folk, delivered through performances among the most electrifying, kinetic and earth-shaking around.

After building up a strong reputation thanks to the quality of their live shows, they made their recorded debut with "Burn" in 2013. The album proved to be their first success, earning them the win for Best Jazz Act at the Music of Black Origin Awards.

"Burn" was followed by "Lest We Forget What We Came Here To Do" in 2016, a hugely successful second album that can also be credited to the ever-stronger synergy and connection between the band's members. The themes explored on the record are a direct continuation of the musical project begun with their debut work, and the jazz sound combined with electronic elements helped boost Sons Of Kemet's popularity beyond the jazz circuit as well.

Their third project, "Your Queen Is A Reptile", was released in 2018. The album stands as a socio-cultural commentary on monarchy, patriarchy, racism, discrimination and colonialism. Despite the weighty subject matter, the sound stays light and joyful, nodding back to Hutchings' Caribbean roots. The English group's arrival on the prestigious Impulse label coincided with a shift towards a more radical jazz sound: a natural evolution of what leader Shabaka Hutchings had already explored on the band's previous two albums, as well as in the The Comet Is Coming project and in various collaborations: Orlando Julius and The Heliocentrics, Polar Bear, Melt Yourself Down, Parquet Courts. The high calibre of the sonic elements is matched by a weighty social and political argument running through every track of "Your Queen Is A Reptile", confronting the listener with a work of considerable artistic significance. The cultural premise amounts to an almost Copernican revolution, placing legendary women at the centre of history: queens, scholars, intellectuals, ordinary people who fought fiercely against the oppression of power. To pay tribute to the Black women who actively fought against discrimination, Sons of Kemet used the names of Angela Davis and Harriet Tubman, as well as Mamie Phipps Clark and Hutchings' own grandmother, as titles for the nine tracks on their third album.

It was precisely while presenting "Your Queen Is A Reptile" that they landed in Italy in 2018 for a mini-tour.

In 2021 Sons Of Kemet released a new album, "Black To The Future". The ensemble applies its signature nu-jazz formula for saxophone/clarinet/flute/tuba and double percussion, hybridized with afrobeat and Caribbean music, with a few post-bop moments defined by the leader's solos. The album offers nothing particularly new compared to its predecessors, intertwining further with the other projects led by Shabaka — Ancestors and The Comet Is Coming — albeit with a more pronounced polyrhythmic drive.