Black to the Future is a staggering achievement. Musically and culturally, Sons of Kemet not only holistically conceive of a future, they begin to create one right now.

Bold and nuanced, invested with a dynamic circularity that nods to African cosmologies and with Hutchings’ focus on woodwinds (and on composition), it’s a work that grabs you by the scruff. AfroCaribbean rhythms intersect with London grime. Jazz is spiritual, cultural, current.

There is an intensity to this music that has been missing, in this way, for far too long. Black To The Future speaks a truth that should be heard. But this recording and these artists never forget to move us musically as well as mentally. [Shabaka] Hutchings understands that the best way to educate as a musician is to put your message to music.

Hutchings, Cross, Skinner and Wakili-Hick’s latest recording is absolutely fearless, building on the themes laid out by their past work while continuing to push their sound forward, neither falling back on old ideas nor compromising on the identity they’ve spent the last decade building.

In the late ’60s, groups like the Art Ensemble of Chicago processed moments of strife through challenging experiments; Sons of Kemet prefer to make danceable, approachable expressions of joy.