Shabaka: Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
Shabaka: Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
Label: Impulse!
Year: 2024
Pianist Jason Moran sets the opening tone of Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace and harp fans in addition to Japanese garden enthusiasts are well rewarded on tracks two through four. On tracks six and seven Shabaka pushes it all into the middle of the table shifting gears if not modes of transport. With “Body To Inhabit” he brings in Esperanza Spalding, Elucid (one half of your friends favorite underground rap duo Armand Hammer) and more harp as Shabaka shreds on flute. For “I’ll Do Whatever You Want” Shabaka moves to shakuhachi, André 3000 takes over the flute chair, Esperanza sticks around, Marcus Gilmore sits behind the drum kit and Laraaji provides the ambiance. That’s a quick 15 minutes! The last three tracks, all self composed, play as a suite as Shabaka breaks out the tenor sax(!), jumps back on clarinet, brings back Jason Moran in addition to Nasheet Waits and introduces two more vocalists. That’s how an artist curates an album.
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