Shabaka Hutchings

Hutchings was born in 1984 in London. He moved to Barbados at the age of six, began studying classical clarinet aged nine and remained until sixteen. Shabaka's primary project is the group Sons of Kemet, which won the 2013 MOBO Award for Jazz Act of the Year. In June 2014 Shabaka was invited to join the Sun Ra Arkestra, performing with them and recording a session for BBC Radio 3. He has performed and recorded with Courtney Pine's Jazz Warriors, Mulatu Astatke and the Heliocentrics, Polar Bear and Soweto Kinch. Some of the many notable musicians he has shared the stage with include Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden and the Liberation Music Orchestra, Louis Moholo, Evan Parker, King Sunny Ade and Orlando Julius to name a few.

As part of the Caribbean diaspora, he sees his role as that of pushing the boundaries of what musical elements are considered to be Caribbean. Constantly evaluating the nature of his relationship with musical material and tradition, he describes his attempts at composition as wrestling matches with questions of where and how the Caribbean can be encoded, and what happens when it is exposed to the western classical music cannon.

Kwake Bass

Drumming since the age of 5, Kwake Bass has carved himself a niche within the UK music scene combining an exciting fusion of live drums and electronic sounds. He showcases these skills via his solo project performances, session work and playing with several other artists and bands.

Alongside his electronic production work, Kwake joined iconic London quartet ʻSpeakers Cornerʼ who have played venues including The Royal Festival Hall, Tate Modern as well as for One Taste and Bollygo Music Jazz Collective. Speakers Corner Quartet have shared stages with artists including Herby Hancock, Ornette Coleman, Tine Tempah, Ed Sheeran, Jamie Woon, Portico Quarted, Courtney Pine, The Invisible, Toro y Moi and Pharaoh Monch.

With his exciting and innovative solo drum project, Kwake has played alongside artists including Little Dragon, Maverick Sabre, The Roots, ?uestlove, Talib Kweli,Immortal Technique, Foreign Beggars and MF Doom as well as performing at venues including Londonʼs Roundhouse, several of the O2 Academies, Brixton Academy, Hackney Empire, Kentish Town Forum, The Coronet, the majority of the major UK and European Festivals including Glastonbury, Outlook, Sonar, Splash, SXSW in Texas and in CMJ in New York.

Zed-U

Taking the raw elements of jazz and incorporating generous use of electronic loops and effects, Zed-U creates what they call a ‘symphony of sound’. This is a conscious decision – the band is after all, a stripped down affair with only bass, drums and reeds – so each instrument effectively doubles up their contribution by adding electronic effects to their instrument, making a much larger sound. One of the most distinctive sounds to come out of this has been dub reggae, largely credited to drummer Tom Skinner, which can be heard lurking in several tracks, although never enough to take over and distract.

"This is a band that knows how to make punchy music without the usual clichés" – The Guardian

"This is music of acute intellectual rigour but also of deep spirit. Damn fine." – thejazzbreakfast