Hear new music featuring unexpected flutists Shabaka (Hutchings) and Andre 3000, on various flutes from different continents in work by vocalist Ganavya, Kamasi Washington, Yusef Dayes, and their own recent solo music.
Shabaka Hutchings, now Shabaka, has been an essential London-based musician for years, leading arena dance-jazz band Sons of Kemet, cosmic psych-dub-funk trio The Comet Is Coming, and the collaborative band Shabaka & the Ancestors. He began incorporating flutes as a layer on the last Sons of Kemet record, and kept on picking up more and other woodwinds, first on his 2022 ambient meditation, Afrikan Culture, and now on his new full-length, Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace. On it, Shabaka plays flutes: the Slavic woodwind called svirel, Japanese shakuhachi, Andean quena, and even clarinet. Plus, rapper and flutist André 3000 contributes flute to “I’ll Do Whatever You Want”.
Hear that piece, along with Shabaka’s flute(s) in music by Tamil Nadu-raised and New York-born vocalist Ganavya– whose latest album was also produced by Shabaka and released on his record label, Native Rebel. There’s also new music from American saxophonist Kamasi Washington and his 2024 album, Fearless Movement, featuring Shabaka. Also, listen to Brazilian pianist Amaro Freitas and his latest, Y'Y, which offers connection to the earth and to the ancestors, and to the global Black avant-jazz community, featuring flute by Shabaka. Plus, from the brilliant album Black Classical Music by London-based drummer, composer, and producer Yussef Dayes, hear Shabaka’s flute featured on the tune, “Raisins Under The Sun”. All of that, plus new music from André 3000. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4872, Unexpected Flutists: Shabaka Hutchings and Andre 3000 (First aired 4/19/2024)
ARTIST: Keith Jarrett
WORK: Spirits [1:00]
RECORDING: Spirits
SOURCE: ECM 1333-34
INFO: https://ecmrecords.com
ARTIST: Sons of Kemet ft. Moor Mother
WORK: Pick Up Your Burning Cross [1:00]
RECORDING: Black to the Future
SOURCE: Impulse!
INFO: https://sonsofkemet.lnk.to/blacktothefutureIB
ARTIST: Shabaka
WORK: As The Planets And The Stars Collapse [1:00]
RECORDING: Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
SOURCE: Impulse!
INFO: https://shabakahutchings.lnk.to/PIBAIG
ARTIST: Shabaka
WORK: I'll Do Whatever You Want [7:43]
RECORDING: Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
SOURCE: Impulse!
INFO: https://shabakahutchings.lnk.to/PIBAIG
ARTIST: Ganavya
WORK: first notebook of songs [8:41]
RECORDING: Like the Sky, I've Been Too Quiet
SOURCE: Native Rebel
INFO: https://ganavya.bandcamp.com/album/like-the-sky-ive-been-too-quiet
ARTIST: Andre 3000
WORK: That Night In Hawaii When I Turned Into A Panther And Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn’t Control ... Sh¥t Was Wild [10:23]
RECORDING: New Blue Sun
SOURCE: Epic; Sony
INFO: https://shop.andre3000.com/
ARTIST: Kamasi Washington
WORK: Dream State (feat_ Andre 3000) [8:40]
RECORDING: Fearless Movement
SOURCE: Young Turks Recordings, due out May 3
INFO: https://kamasiwashington.bandcamp.com/album/fearless-movement
ARTIST: Amaro Freitas
WORK: Y'Y, with Shabaka Hutchings [5:17]
RECORDING: Y'Y
SOURCE: Psychic Hotline
INFO: https://amarofreitas.bandcamp.com/album/yy
ARTIST: Yussef Dayes
WORK: Raisins Under The Sun (feat. Shabaka Hutchings) [3:56]
RECORDING: Black Classical Music
SOURCE: Nonesuch/Warner Records
INFO: https://yussefdayes.bandcamp.com/album/black-classical-music