Sons of Kemet: Live at Big Ears Festival | JAZZ NIGHT IN AMERICA

Watch Sons of Kemet Recorded Live at Big Ears Festival
"Jazz built for arenas." A friend and former rock critic shared this admiring assessment of Sons of Kemet, after seeing the band for the first time at this year's Big Ears Festival. There's obviously truth in it: Over the last eight years, Sons of Kemet has not only fueled the fires of a raging London jazz scene; it has also scaled up the pyrotechnics, in strictly musical terms.
With Shabaka Hutchings on tenor saxophone, Theon Cross on tuba, and Nache Edward and Tom Skinner on drums, it's a hardy combustion engine that also feels like a breathing organism. Arenas, sure, but this is also jazz built for street parties. And certain proudly eclectic fests.
At Big Ears in Knoxville, Tenn., Sons of Kemet brought its exultant blend of carnival rhythm, club abandon and jazz improv to a midnight show that packed The Mill & Mine, a cavernous room that once housed the Industrial Belting and Supply Company. The set drew from a knockout recent album, Your Queen Is a Reptile, but with a spirit of freedom in the moment - whatever setting you think suits it best, it's music made for a perpetual now. -- NATE CHINEN
This concert was recorded at The Mill & Mine on March 24, 2019, as part of the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tenn.
SET LIST
0:44 - "My Queen is Ada Eastman"
6:01 - "My Queen is Angela Davis"
21:26 - "The Itis"
26:43 - "Breadfruit"
33:12 - "Mo' Wiser"
40:53 - "My Queen is Harriet Tubman"
47:32 - "My Queen is Mamie Phipps Clark"
57:11 - "Inner Babylon"
01:01:16 - "My Queen is Berta Cáceres"
01:10:48 - "My Queen is Albertina Sisulu"
01:15:32 - "Afrofuturism"
MUSICIANS
Shabaka Hutchings (saxophone)
Theon Cross (tuba)
Tom Skinner (drums)
Eddie Hicks (drums)
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[@joacoalvear]

That tubist is the best bass player I've ever heard

[@MaurizioVelati]

Hai ragione. Fantastico

[@progisloveprogislife4501]

@@MaurizioVelati non penso ti capisca

[@sosijiz1971]

Slick, masterful...

[@beex7411]

That's Theon Cross🔥🔥

[@joeg46Highlands]

When you replace your teacher in a band you have to be good. When that teacher is Oren Marshall .......

[@ronshina4022]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1">0:01</a> My Queen is Ada Eastman <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="361">6:01</a> My Queen is Angela Davis <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1286">21:26</a> The Itis <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1603">26:43</a> Breadfruit <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1992">33:12</a> Mo' Wiser <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="2453">40:53</a> My Queen is Harriet Tubman <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="2852">47:32</a> My Queen is Mamie Phipps Clark <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="3431">57:11</a> Inner Babylon <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="3536">58:56</a> drums tandem 🥁 (Inner Babylon) <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="61">01:01</a> My Queen is Berta Cáceres <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="70">01:10</a> My Queen is Albertina Sisulu <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="75">01:15</a> Afrofuturism

[@blessings7070]

Thank you

[@kapohomike1]

That tuba reaches way down inside.

[@familytreemusic]

Such an original lineup was not seen since the great free jazz season of the 60's. Some great music here, the UK jazz scene in these recent years is truly extraordinaire.

[@Sil626]

Amazing, the new album Black to the future is always playing and it’s gonna be the album of the summer and even 2021 with Floating points/ Pharoah Sanders....

[@coreymcd22]

I was in that crowd, and this was the day after the Comet is Coming played along with a ton of other electrifying groups and artists. This is seriously the best festival you will go to.

[@jalilragab7652]

I'm jelly

[@paulspanbauer4125]

Hope to see you this weekend!

[@coreymcd22]

@@paulspanbauer4125 I'm gutted, but I won't be making it this year. Such an incredible lineup though, you all will have a blast.

[@akiralor]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1133">18:53</a> The double drum solo is so fine!

[@pimeye]

He’s come a long way since I heard him as a 16-yr-old in the Birmingham Schools Jazz Ensemble when my eldest daughter was asked to come back from Uni to play trombone as they were short of trombone players that night.

[@gil-evens]

How were his chops at 16 ?

[@pimeye]

@@gil-evens Some pretty good solos.

[@sydberetta4649]

Theon Cross had a dope solo effort Fyah, and Shabaka released a new album with The Comet is Coming earlier this year as well.

[@Shamil_Abdullayev]

I'm from Russia, and i feel like i am the only one who listening music like this in here. It's realy great!

[@antonlevkin5542]

No, you're not. :D

[@jlwaddey9579]

tell your friends! start a movement...

[@oredrecordings1936]

братан, Шабака даже в Москве в прошлом году выступал, так что не. Guys, there are lot of people who listening Sons of Kemet, Comet is Coming in Russia.

[@kinik29]

Чувак, ты не один)

[@ranch-o-house8810]

Let's start a corporation! Who's with me?

[@bandicoot5412]

Comet got a hold on me, then this, love it when that happens.

[@kagillogly]

Loving this band; got here from NPR's Tiny Desk Concert with Shabaka Hutching's 'other' band, The Comet is Coming.

[@champignon4]

One of the best things I've seen and heard. Wish I could go to one of their shows.

[@inoino940]

This music is saving my life

[@LisethGonzalezL]

thanks Michaela Coel for brought me here ♥

[@d.a.ro.3675]

the sound i was looking for from a while!

[@TomMcisaac250]

Outstanding

[@psbzu]

Pure gold.

[@ruby_gleyzes]

Absolutely great!

[@MrIzzy4real]

Thanks for recording and sharing

[@TheVinylCorner1]

Spiritual experience.

[@peterdemeter8524]

Fantastic!!!

[@nelsonfragoso5713]

Jazz moderno e bem Afro.....Fantástico!!!!!!!!!!Venham se apresentar no Brasil!!!!!

[@soulblackbrother]

DE NOVO! Vieram pra cá em 2016, na MIMO em Olinda-PE. Uma das experiências mais incríveis!

[@gidgetmoore-hopper2286]

Amazing vibes in those instruments!

[@teacherfromthejungles6671]

Thanks weekly Spotify recommendations, that was a really good one.

[@cullingthegenepool6842]

A random in my home feed recommendations and I think I love this. Real catchy stuff.

[@juanmari1973]

Wonderful

[@ricopags]

So sad to have missed them at the MIM tonight but grateful for this as a consolation prize.

[@Paulmazuk]

I’m enjoying that this is surround sound

[@ismadvm]

EXCELLENTS!!!!

[@Bati_]

A true visionary...

[@stevestreetly7505]

Magic 🕺🥁🥁

[@jpcorreiacreativesociety9155]

this is reaaaaaaally good,, great music, could be jazz built for arenas but one can listen to it anywhere with joy

[@rsrsax9492]

yay !

[@chiapress7533]

Siete incredibili. Bravi. 💟🔝🔝💛🔆

[@michelmuller7270]

extraordinaire talent talent a l'état pur. Merci

[@garyboast9609]

Thrown jazz into the 25th century - amazing!!

[@lemaisaxonist.7552]

pure energy from Shabaka and Theon. My best best band forever. pure sound from Africa.

[@zworker3441]

Are they not from England?

[@starchmonkey]

My favorite part of this whole concert is when Shabaka takes off his jacket, and then plays one of the filthiest jazz licks on the entire YQIAR album. Easy to miss.

[@luigegeorgen]

This sound port me to Fela Kuti Anikulapo.

[@bfariash]

Double drummers is the future

[@carstarsarstenstesenn]

hell yes

[@carstarsarstenstesenn]

especially in this style

[@henryescudero863]

Grateful Dead figured that out in 1969

[@ThommyUnderhill]

I was there!

[@moscxrdx]

This is mixed so good

[@Ihbaworldsax]

❤️

[@Earwitness75]

🖤

[@blessings7070]

❤❤🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@bruhroof]

yeeey

[@gorryumbul9031]

Afrobeat forever!

[@Woolley_like_sheep]

such an underraterd band.absoloutly love these guys

[@gil-evens]

Underrated ? Everyone talks about them and Shabaka has been on jazz magazines' covers for few years (I believe Theon too but I never saw it myself). Also, the UK Jazz scene is currently mad and Sons of Kemet definitely brings gasoline to the fire ! Underrated might not be the term - things just take time.

[@Woolley_like_sheep]

Acid God ay granted. I meant like they should be a house hold name, they're that good. Most of my mates haven’t heard of em.

[@gil-evens]

George Woolley I see what you mean

[@RayasNegroOvejas]

George Woolley maybe it’s jazz that’s underrated? ;)

[@starchmonkey]

@@gil-evens over here on the other side of the pond they are definitely underrated.

[@johnnyprovo7157]

Joseph Campbell would approve of Shabaka's speech at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="68">1:08</a>:00ish.

[@juanmari1973]

👏👏👏👍👍

[@balthazartyshow1765]

🎵 🎶 🎶 😎👍 🎶 🎶 🎵

[@migscacao]

Does anyone know where can I listen to a studio version (if it exists) of "My Queen is Berta Cáceres"? Its, supposedly, from the album "Your Queen is a Reptile", but I can't find that song anywhere

[@theleafofgrass]

was just gonna ask the same!

[@Tbro13oo]

Makes me feel about jazz like the old t-shirt, "PUNKS NOT DEAD." Nope, it's doing Just Fine. I need Kevin Mojica's evocaton of Fela Kuti. Jazz is like science. Not an inert set of data, but a methodology. ...Far from a perfect metaphor, but your patience is requested. ...For a couple of other obvious examples, what James Blood Ulmer has done with funk (...And Ornette Coleman), and what Robert Glasper has done with hip-hop. As long as Jazz gets out and takes some regular exercise, like these brethren are making sure it does, it'll outlast a lot More shit than it already has. ...Doh, you're referred to the program in this very same series about when Miles went electric. ...When I first heard any Charlie Parker, it was the soloing on Hendrix, Band of Gypsys that made it accessible.

[@paulspanbauer4125]

Ears!

[@azul4525]

G-zussss Qwisteeeeee. DOPE stuff.

[@callesencallesen9167]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🤘🏽🍯✨

[@ibrahimabraxas6478]

No seas cabron! Esta presentación es brutal de inicio a fin.

[@Tbro13oo]

...I like the name, too. Ites Out.

[@whosinmyhead]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="68">1:08</a>:03 Sun Ra quote

[@tualonsousecret]

J Cole killin' it on the drums.

[@archievora6049]

Omgfffffffffff

[@bellucci777dual8]

Waiting for you in Moscow, Russia on Dec 7th in Garage

[@victorgallardo1584]

Ña ñaiii

[@rinkinkel]

Should I think any of them know what the others are doing?

[@josephhewitt5173]

Is that an alto saxophone ?

[@Woolley_like_sheep]

nah tenor, i think the dude is just really tall

[@christ-stephaneboizi8572]

Imagine if they threw a trombone in there❗

[@Tbro13oo]

--Jinx! I was thinking the same thing. Sort of like going toward some kind of postmodern second line.

[@oscarherrejonserrano1503]

Felicidades a las 16 personas que les gusta Bad Bunny y no les gusta esto

[@gerardowilliams7935]

La música como creación artística no tiene color

[@humaninterface7153]

Headache

[@princeikel4349]

Pretty limited

[@pereztube2]

This shit is terrible.

[@messiahblack4816]

How y'all the sons of kemet with a white drummer??? Im just sayin...

[@sydberetta4649]

That's racist dawg, we all sons and daughters of kemet, some of us just more melanin deficient.

[@tortuguea]

it's only genetic, kemet was a natural born lover

[@TheDragonViking]

This is a perfect example that music unites. It shows that all people are the exact same and that we can work together regardless of any color/culture.

[@DiscardedCardbordbox]

By discriminating based on skin color you are breathing life into the bigoted system of the imperials. Mr. Skinner is not in the band because of his skin color. Mr. Skinner is in the band because of merit, passion, and individual free will. As a rebuke to the subjugation of a people, "Your Queen is a Reptile" celebrates a group of ethnically African women that are brushed aside by imperialist society. Not once does the album assert the dominance or inferiority of a group based on skin color or facial features. By playing the game designed by the imperialists, we all lose.

[@napoleonwilson6499]

What's with all this racist crap?!! The Comet is Coming has white people in it too! Thank God Shabaka isn't such a bigot