Sons of Kemet

Sons of Kemet
Sons of Kemet
	Sons of Kemet performing at the 2018 Oslo Jazz festival
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Jazz, Afrobeat, world, avant-garde jazz
Years active	2011–2022
Labels	Naim, Impulse!
Members	Shabaka Hutchings; Tom Skinner; Theon Cross; Eddie Hick;
Past members	Seb Rochford; Oren Marshall;

Sons of Kemet were a British jazz band formed by Shabaka Hutchings, Oren Marshall, Seb Rochford, and Tom Skinner.^[1] Theon Cross replaced Marshall on tuba after the first album, and Eddie Hick replaced Rochford on drums after the third. They disbanded in 2022.^[2]

Career

The band used saxophone and clarinet (Hutchings), tuba (Cross), and two drummers (Skinner, Hick) to make their music and played a mixture of jazz, rock, Caribbean folk, and African music.^[3]

On 9 September 2013, Sons of Kemet released their debut album Burn, which received the Arts Desk Album of the Year 2013 and a nomination for Gilles Peterson's Album of the Year. Their next album Lest We Forget What We Came Here to Do received the same nomination for the year 2015. The band won Best Jazz Act at the 2013 MOBO Awards.^[4]

On 30 March 2018, Impulse! released the band's third album, Your Queen Is a Reptile. It was nominated for the 2018 Mercury Prize.^[5]

On 14 May 2021, the fourth album by Sons of Kemet, Black to the Future, was released. Hubert Adjei-Kontoh, writing for Pitchfork, described the album as a "propulsive mind- and body-moving record",^[6] while Kitty Empire writing for The Guardian described it as "an eloquent dance between anger and joy" and praised the lyric writing and instrumentals of the album.^[7]

On 1 June 2022, they posted that after the current run of shows, "we will be closing this chapter of the band's life for the foreseeable future."^[8]^[2]

Band members

Final

Shabaka Hutchings – saxophone, clarinet
Tom Skinner – drums
Theon Cross – tuba
Eddie Hick – drums

Past

Seb Rochford – drums
Oren Marshall – tuba

Discography

Burn (Naim, 2013)
Lest We Forget What We Came Here to Do (Naim, 2015)
Your Queen Is a Reptile (Impulse!, 2018)
Black to the Future (Impulse!, 2021)

Videography

Year	Title	Director	Choreographer	Ref
2016	"In the Castle of My Skin"	Motheo Moeng	Jarrel Mathebula	^[9]
2015	"Play Mass"	Jordan Copeland	Valeria Tello Giusti	^[10]^[11]

Awards

2013 MOBO Awards – Best Jazz Act (Winner)^[4]

References

^ Pearce1, James. "Sons of Kemet". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 May 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ ^a ^b Pitchfork: Sons of Kemet Breaking Up After Final Shows | Pitchfork, accessdate: May 23, 2023
^ Ouellette, Dan (May 2014) "Sons of Kemet: 'Vibrating in Space'". DownBeat. p. 20.
^ ^a ^b "Winners 2013". Mobo.com. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
^ "See the 2018 Shortlis". Mercuryprize.com. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
^ Adjei-Kontoh, Hubert. "Review: Sons of Kemet, Black to the Future". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
^ Empire, Kitty (15 May 2021). "Sons of Kemet: Black to the Future review – an eloquent dance between anger and joy". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
^ "Sons of Kemet". Instagram. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
^ "Music Video Sons Of Kemet – In The Castle Of My Skin". Pulse.com.ng. David Mawuli. 2 October 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
^ James Keith. "Premiere: The Video For Sons Of Kemet's "Play Mass" Is A Jazz-Fueled Trip". Uk.complex.com. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
^ Linzy Na Narkorn. "SONS OF KEMET – 'PLAY MASS' MUSIC VIDEO SHOOT WITH TENTACLE FILMS". Linzy Na Nakorn Dance Artist. Retrieved 23 March 2016.