Shabaka: Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace Album Review

But, despite a significant overlap in personnel between Perceive Its Beauty and New Blue Sun—André himself appears on one track here, as does his New Blue Sun collaborator Surya Botofasina, while that project’s creative catalyst Carlos Niño turns up throughout—the two albums have little in common. Whereas New Blue Sun offered sprawling sonic environments, Perceive Its Beauty presents more focused episodes, thoughtfully sequenced to move from abstract and spacious to pulsing and upbeat and back again. (Also, it must be said: As an instrumentalist, André 3000 is a proud novice, while Shabaka is a classically trained practitioner with years of professional experience and a deep dedication to craft.)

The album’s parade of guest stars might feel like a distraction if each of these artists weren’t so well integrated into Shabaka’s overall vision. Opener “End of Innocence” and fifth track “The Wounded Need to Be Replenished” feature different piano luminaries (respectively, Jason Moran, known for his brilliant reimaginings of jazz history, and Nduduzo Makhathini, the South African bandleader and sometime member of the Ancestors), but each achieves a similar kind of pensive beauty. On the former, Shabaka’s clarinet traces liquid arcs over Moran and drummer Nasheet Waits’ somber, abstract textures, while on the latter, the leader’s flute floats wisp-like among Makhathini’s spare phrases, with Niño’s percussion and Botofasina’s synth heightening the feeling of aqueous suspension. In both cases, as much as Shabaka’s tone on these instruments differs from his steely projections on tenor, the artful poise of his phrasing remains fully intact.

Of the album’s many vocal tracks, the most transporting are those that treat guest singers more like fellow instrumentalists. On “Insecurities,” Moses Sumney seems to channel the timbre of Shabaka’s flute as he joins the leader and harpist Charles Overton with wordless lines. On “Kiss Me Before I Forget,” Lianne La Havas melds her voice with Shabaka’s clarinet, creating a lovely braiding of tones, and on “Living,” Eska Mtungwazi’s multi-tracked singing unites with the strings of Miguel Atwood-Ferguson to create a lush, orchestral feel.

Tracks featuring the poets Saul Williams (who contributes a serene monologue to “Managing My Breath, What Fear Had Become”) and Anum Iyapo (Shabaka’s father, who declaims tenderly on album closer “Song of the Motherland,” referencing the title track of his own 1985 album), and rapper Elucid (who brings incisive verses to “Body to Inhabit”) feel a bit less interactive, with vocals sitting out in front of the ensemble. But each piece makes room for compelling interplay between Shabaka’s flute and Charles Overton’s harp, with Brandee Younger, a fellow harpist who has brought the instrument a fresh wave of attention in jazz in recent years, adding to the richness of “Body to Inhabit,” along with Esperanza Spalding, who contributes an insistent bassline. On “I’ll Do Whatever You Want,” André 3000’s flute ends up making less of a discernible impact than producer Floating Points, who gives the track its psychedelic synth pulse, and ambient trailblazer Laraaji, who adds droll vocal excursions and a signature laugh at the end.

Amid the ever-shifting personnel, it’s the confidence of Shabaka’s vision and the potency of his playing that leave the strongest impression. Throughout Perceive Its Beauty, we hear him confidently stepping outside the boundaries not just of jazz but of any easily defined genre and finding a firm footing. Taking in a category-defying track like “As the Planets and the Stars Collapse”—another standout instrumental, with its lush bed of harps and strings, and Shabaka blowing his flute over top with as much muscle as grace—you don’t miss the big, loud, shiny horn, or the in-your-face ensemble sound of a band like Sons of Kemet, in the slightest. The incarnation may be new, but the music’s underlying spirit, its animating force, is very much the same.

Shabaka: Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace