Shabaka Hutchings: Essential British Jazz

London saxophonist and bandleader Shabaka Hutchings has rapidly become the face of contemporary British jazz, fronting the agile Sons Of Kemet and leading the South African musicians in the Ancestors, to name just two of his projects. He curated this playlist—a mix of tracks that helped him forge his identity as a British jazz artist. “It's music that shows the efforts made by generations before me, and which still are being dealt with by my peers,” he says. Whether looking back at the late ‘60s with the South African-fuelled drive of “Mra” by Chris McGregor or the manic post-punk sprawl of contemporaries Acoustic Ladyland on “Om Konz,” his wide-ranging taste is clear.