Shabaka Hutchings‘s great new solo album as Shakaba, Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, is one of this year’s best ambient jazz albums and it’s already starting to show up on major year-end lists, so it’s very good news that Shabaka has more where that came from. Before the year ends, he’ll put out a new EP, Possession (on December 6 via Impulse! Records), which is directly connected to the LP. One of the highlights of Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace is the song with ELUCID, and the first single from Possession features ELUCID’s Armand Hammer partner billy woods and it also samples Perceive Its Beauty opener “End of Innocence.” Like ELUCID, woods sounds amazing over an ambient jazz backdrop. Listen to the song, titled “Timepieces,” below.

“My original plan for my album ‘Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace’ was to present the acoustic music as recorded in the Van Gelder and London studios, but also dissect and sample the material to produce an accompanying beats segment to the album,” Shabaka says. “‘Timepieces’ is one of the results of this intention.”

ELUCID also appears on a song on the EP, and other guests include Esperanza Spalding, Nduduzo Makhathini, Brandee Younger, Carlos Niño and Jason Moran. Check out the full tracklist below.

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Tracklist
1. “Timepieces” featuring Billy Woods
2. “I’ve Been Listening” featuring Elucid
3. “To The Moon” featuring Special Guest
4. “Cycles of Growth” featuring Esperanza Spalding
5. “Reaching Back Towards Eternity” featuring Nduduzo Makhathini

Shabaka — 2024/2025 Tour Dates
November 16, 2024 – JazzClub Hipnoza, Katowice, Poland (Sold Out)
November 19, 2024 – Hertz, Utrecht, Netherlands
November 23, 2024 – Flagey, Brussels, Belgium
November 27, 2024 – Albert Hall, Manchester, UK
November 28, 2024 – St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, UK (Sold Out)
November 30, 2024 – Royal Festival Hall, London, UK
December 12, 2024 – WWW X, Tokyo, Japan (solo date)
December 14, 2024 – Omni Space, Beijing, China
December 16, 2024 – B10, Shenzhen, China
December 18, 2024 – Modern Sky Lab, Shanghai, China
February 27, 2025 – The Blue Note (True/False Film Festival), Columbia, MO (solo date)
March 1, 2025 – Missy Lanes, Durham, NC
March 2, 2025 – Missy Lanes, Durham, NC
March 6, 2025 – Northcote Theatre, Melbourne, AUS
March 7, 2025 – Princess Theatre, Brisbane, AUS
March 8, 2025 – City Recital Hall, Sydney, AUS
March 10, 2025 – WOMADelaide, Adelaide, AUS
March 12, 2025 – Freo Arts Centre, Perth, AUS