In a decade, the composer, band leader and saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings established himself as the spearhead of the new British jazz scene with his militant orchestras Sons of Kemet, The Comet Is Coming and Shabaka and The Ancestors, in which he operated an irresistible fusion of jazz, Afrobeat, Caribbean rhythms and rhythms inspired by the London electronic scene. Until he abandoned all that, the groove and the sax, to devote himself to the study and mastery of other wind instruments, in particular the shakuhachi, an ancestral Japanese five-hole flute. Any regrets? “None,” assures us the musician, in concert Saturday at the Gesù.
We still remember the concert given by Sons of Kemet in 2018, on the bill of the Montreal International Jazz Festival, musicians playing until they made the walls of Studio TD shake in front of a crowd galvanized by such skill and energy.
Judging by the album’s contemplative compositions Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace released last April (and by that of its preamble, the mini-album African Culture2022), it will be a completely different matter at the Gesù during the two concerts that Hutchings will offer, accompanied by three formidable colleagues, drummer Austin Williamson, harpist Brandee Younger and bassist Junius Paul — the latter two will undoubtedly join drummer Makaya McCraven’s orchestra on stage at the Théâtre Duceppe tonight.
If his previous adventures with Sons of Kemet and The Comet Is Coming peddled a militant message (feminist, anti-colonialist, pro-civil rights) through his rhythms, Hutchings believes that his new project also takes a look at our times: “In the feelingin the vibeit’s a journey towards a more peaceful musical state, sonically, something that we’ve come to recognize the importance of coming out of the pandemic. It’s to emphasize the importance of taking a step back and doing some soul searching. So, yeah, this record is a bit of a response to what we’ve been through in the last few years — well, maybe not an answer, but a companion.”
On stage, Shabaka will carry part of his flute collection, with the shakuhachi at its centre. “But let me add a nuance: I gave up the saxophone, but I still play the clarinet,” a single-reed instrument, a cousin of the saxophone. “I didn’t stop playing it because I felt I had reached the end of what I could accomplish with a saxophone, because at the end of the day, it’s first and foremost a question of inspiration, and that inspiration has no end, whatever instrument you play,” explains Shabaka Hutchings.
“Of course, I’m a better player on the saxophone than on the flute, since I’ve been playing it longer. And I could have continued to play it, but giving it up forces me to put all my energy into becoming better at the flute. There’s no secret, it’s the only way to master these instruments.”
His classical music training gave him the discipline to do this: it took him a year of practice before he could extract from the shakuhachi the sound he conceived in his head. It would take him another six or seven before he reached a level of playing that would allow him to perform traditional Japanese repertoire.
Reconsidering what jazz is
“It would be easier for me to pursue my career on the saxophone, always knowing exactly what I have to do, but without that security, I am forced to ask myself instead what I should do, and that, that question mark, becomes a spark to my creativity. It is forcing me to be instinctive rather than methodical.”
Unlike the saxophone, the shakuhachi is not a traditional jazz instrument; does playing it make him reconsider what jazz music is? “Hmmm,” he muses before answering. “I think so. I just finished a biography [du légendaire saxophoniste ténor] Sonny Rollins and, reading his approach to jazz, I understand that, for him, it is a way of life and that you have to learn as much as possible about music.
“Learning about what music is allows me to avoid my career taking a predetermined path,” Shabaka continues. […] For my part, I learn about music by reading what my heroes have to say on the subject; what I learned from these readings is that if you try to define what jazz is by describing its instruments, its rhythms or the way in which you organize the notes in this spirit, there will always be another contradictory point of view. So, for me, the important thing is to be able to express the extent of our vision of music and to show how this vision is linked to a tradition, to the genius and the struggles of the musicians who have gone before me. Jazz is therefore not attached to an instrument, but to a history and to the relationships between things.
Shabaka continues to write his own jazz history with each performance — after experimenting with a quartet (flute, bass, drums and Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet) and a creative residency in New York, where he tried the trio formula (flute, harp, drums), he returns to Montreal with a new quartet.
“At the beginning of the year, I approached concerts from the angle of total improvisation, but the more I play on stage, the more I feel drawn to melodies, which serve as a basis for improvisations. That’s first and foremost what I am, an improviser, but melody will always occupy an important place in this project. I understood from one concert to the next that the more I integrated melodies into the performances, the better I was able to create a narrative framework, both in the concerts and in my musical project. And besides, the aspect that I like the most about my album is its narrative framework, its flowand that’s what I try to recreate on stage.”
Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace by Shabaka is out on the Impulse! label. Shabaka will perform at Gesù on Saturday, at 6pm and 10:30pm.