Shabaka on his shakuhachi: ‘The way it makes you feel is unsurpassed by any other instrument’
A central figure of the London jazz scene, Shabaka Hutchings, 40, has been a member of bands including Shabaka and the Ancestors, and the Mercury-nominated Sons of Kemet and The Comet Is Coming. He announced last year that he would no longer be playing the saxophone live. For his solo debut album, Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, released on Impulse! in April, he uses different types of flute and the clarinet. This summer and autumn Shabaka tours the US, Canada and Europe, including the Montreal international jazz festival. He is pictured here with a shakuhachi, a traditional Japanese bamboo flute
