Sons of Kemet

Sons of Kemet

Sons of Kemet are a London-based jazz group active from 2011 to 2022. The line-up is led by Shabaka Hutchings, with Oren Marshall, Sebastian Rochford and Tom Skinner as the original members. The group uses saxophone and clarinet, tuba, and two drummers to build an instrumental sound that draws on jazz fusion, rock, Caribbean folk and African music.

Formation and line-up

The group forms in 2011 and develops around the playing of Hutchings, Marshall, Rochford and Skinner. After the first album, Theon Cross replaces Marshall on tuba. After the third album, Eddie Hick replaces Rochford on drums. The band ends in 2022 after its live activity that year.

Style and recordings

Their music combines brass-led jazz with layered percussion and influences from Caribbean and African traditions. The group releases four albums during its lifetime. Burn, the debut album, appears in 2013 and establishes their reputation for forceful live performance and wide-ranging musical references. The second album, Lest We Forget What We Came Here To Do, continues the themes of the debut and is framed around the Caribbean diaspora in Britain. It includes tracks such as Afrofuturism, which draws on a Barbadian tuk rhythm, as well as Mo’ Wiser, In The Castle Of My Skin and The Long Night Of Octavia Butler. In Memory Of Samir Awad is written in tribute to a Palestinian teenager killed in 2013.

Recognition

Sons of Kemet win Best Jazz Act at the MOBO Awards in 2013. Their debut album also receives strong attention from Gilles Peterson, The Arts Desk, iTunes Best Of Jazz and The Quietus.

Members and associated acts

The musicians in the group have also been involved with Polar Bear, Hello Skinny, Melt Yourself Down, Mulatu Astatke, the Heliocentrics and Sun Ra’s Arkestra. Hutchings studies clarinet and saxophone at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and his personal background includes time spent in Birmingham and in Barbados.