by Sons of Kemet (Impulse! Records, CD, LP and digital)
Several years ago, a former goalkeeper named David Icke made the news by announcing that the Queen was a lizard from outer space who, along with the rest of her reptilian ilk, was bent on world domination. Shabaka Hutchings, the virtuoso saxophonist-composer and the key mover behind Sons of Kemet, is silent as to whether such reptilian revelations lie behind the jazz outfit’s third album. However, what is abundantly clear is the black pride and honour that goes into Your Queen Is a Reptile. Each of its nine songs names a personal queen – ranging from Mamie Phipps Clarke, Doreen Laurence and Harriet Tubman, to Queen Nanny of The Maroons, Angela Davis, and Yaa Asantewaa. Each is chosen for their actions rather than their lineage.
