Bandleader Shabaka Hutchings has made a name for himself as an adventurous player in the adventurous London jazz scene. Perhaps most well known for his role in Sons of Kemet, or The Comet Is Coming, Hutchings recently released his sophomore release with Shabaka and the Ancestors, We Are Sent Here By History.

While Hutchings is the constant between the three projects, each has its own unique personality. Shabaka and the Ancestors finds Hutchings collaborating with a group of South African artists. The album’s page at Impulse Records says:

“We Are Sent Here by History’ is a meditation on the fact of our coming extinction as a species. It is a reflection from the ruins, from the burning. a questioning of the steps to be taken in preparation for our transition individually and societally if the end is to be seen as anything but a tragic defeat. For those lives lost and cultures dismantled by centuries of western expansionism, capitalist thought and white supremist structural hegemony the end days have long been heralded as present with this world experienced as an embodiment of a living purgatory.”

The album is out now on Impulse! Records.

Watch the band live at North Sea Jazz 2017:

• Visit the official Shabaka Hutchings website.

• Visit Shabaka and the Ancestors’ Bandcamp page.

• Follow Shabaka and the Ancestors at Facebook.