About

— The Analog Vault // Essential Listening —

With sleeve notes declaring "Your Queen is not our Queen / She does not see us as human" - British jazz outfit Sons of Kemet were out to make a statement with their third record, and in doing so they crafted one of the most powerful pieces of jazz in the 21st century. Released in 2018 on Impulse!, Your Queen Is A Reptile rejects the racism and xenophobia of England’s monarchy by honouring black women who’ve made their mark on history.

 Much like how the opening track "My Queen Is Ada Eastman" salutes bandleader Shabaka Hutchings' Barbadian great grandmother, others memorialise figures such as Harriet Tubman, Nanny of the Maroons, and Yaa Asantewaa, among others. Led by Hutchings’ fiery saxophone, this album is a celebration of Black revolutionaries that blends Afrobeat, calypso, grime and reggae into an avant-garde jazz carnival. — The Analog Vault

—

Your Queen Is a Reptile signals the arrival of Caribbean-born, London-based saxophonist/clarinetist Shabaka Hutchings' Sons of Kemet on Impulse! The band's unusual lineup - saxophone/clarinet, tuba, and two or three drummers - fits with the historic label's revolutionary tradition forged by John and Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, etc. Hutchings is no mere descendent of his heroes, however. He's amassed dozens of musical credits (including work with Mulatu Astatke and Yusef Kamaal) and leads three different bands: Sons of Kemet, Shabaka and the Ancestors, and the electro space-jazz outfit Comet Is Coming.

This is Sons of Kemet's third album. Its title refers to the white patriarchy as made manifest in royal and political matriarchies (the queen and Theresa May), and their unrepentant racism toward immigrants. The nine tracks pay homage to iconic Black women from Angela Davis and Harriet Tubman to social psychologist Mamie Phipps Clarke and Hutchings' own great-grandmother, Ada Eastman. Despite the charged nature of the concept, these sounds are not easily categorized as "angry." In fact, if one knew nothing about the motivation here, they would swear the music reflects only Black celebration and joy.

Herein lies the terrain where the carnival tradition of the Caribbean stretches west and north simultaneously to New Orleans' marching bands and South London's adventurous, well-integrated contemporary music scene; it's where modern avant-jazz meets funk, folk tradition, grime (thanks to two raps by poet Joshua Idehen), and reggae (courtesy of toaster Congo Natty). "My Queen Is Ada Eastman" opens with rolling double-drum kits (Tom Skinner and Seb Rochford - the latter alternates with or complements Eddie Hick and Moses Boyd) - while Theon Cross' tuba establishes a hypnotic bassline and Hutchings weaves a labyrinthine, almost snaky melody. 

They dig deep into reggae with "My Queen Is Mamie Phipps Clarke," as Natty delivers a Rasta poem with Hutchings' tenor winding around him amid stretched-out dub effects. "My Queen Is Angela Davis" equates, knotty, martial, yet funky rhythms as Cross and Hutchings exchange a contrapuntal lyric line that touches on carnival music and Arabic double-harmonic scales. While "My Queen Is Nanny of the Maroons," titled for the famed Jamaican anti-colonialist, uses a hypnotic Nyabinghi rhythm, the tuba lays down a rocksteady bassline and Hutchings breathes out a gentle modal ballad.

Nubya Garcia adds a second saxophone to "My Queen Is Yaa Asantewaa" amid incantatory Ghanaian-style drumming and a declarative tuba. On "My Queen Is Albertina Sisulu," the drumming and stretched harmony delineate where South African township jive meets avant-jazz (and traces a direct line from Brotherhood of Breath). Hip-hop, funk, and Fela all meet in closer "My Queen Is Doreen Lawrence" (titled for the British Jamaican campaigner), with punchy tenor lines, roiling snares, and kick drums with bleating below-the-floor bass notes. 

Your Queen Is a Reptile is easily Sons of Kemet's most compelling outing. It offers inspired stylistic contrasts, canny improvisation, and killer charts. It's tight, furious, joyous, and inspirational. — (via Thom Jurek // AllMusic)

↓
Label: Impulse! ‎
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album
Released: 2018
Genre: Jazz
Style: Afrobeat, Free Improvisation, Avant-garde Jazz, Modern/Future Jazz 

File under: TAV Essential Listening
File under: Jazz // Modern/Future Jazz
⦿