Shabaka mesmerizes with new his sonic vision at Barbican

Shabaka Hutchings has been on an extraordinary musical journey over the past year. Summer 2023 saw him part ways with his electro-jazz trio The Comet is Coming, and the turn of the New Year came with the radical announcement that he would be giving up the tenor saxophone entirely.

This gig at The Barbican was therefore far more than just a launch of his new album Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace. It was an unveiling of his transformed creative vision – an artistic rebirth. Gone was the muscular, macho tenor giant and that ferocious metallic sound. Here instead was a much more introspective, softly spoken artist who is pushing both his instrumental discipline and creative horizons to new extremes.

Almost every tune featured a new wind instrument from around the globe: the Japanese shakuhachi, a Native American drone flute, an enormous contrabass bamboo flute, a Bulgarian tilinko, a clarinet… Shabaka’s breath control on each was impeccable, and he made each sing with a unique woody timbre that evoked sounds of forests and ancestral spirits. He was particularly impressive during the solo moments where he created captivating flows of energy with cascading rhythms and hypnotic looping melodies.

Shabaka’s band played a crucial role in realising this new sound. Elliot Galvin on piano and Hinako Omori on synths and keyboards used a variety of acoustic and sampled effects to achieve rich array of transcendent soundscapes. The sonic effect created by the two harpists Miriam Adefris and Alina Bzhezhinska was mesmerising and gave a shimmering harmonic depth to the gig. Guitarist Dave Okumu joined the band at around the halfway mark, adding yet another layer to the mix, and vocalist Eska Mtungwazi gave a soaring vocal performance on the tune ‘Living’.

This was a masterclass in technical discipline, and a triumph of creative imagination.