Hutchings was born in 1984 in London, England,[2] but moved to Birmingham at the age of two.[3] From the age of six, he was raised in his parents' native Barbados. There, as a nine-year-old, he picked up the clarinet and practised along to the hip hop verses of Nas, Notorious BIG and Tupac, as well as the rhythms of Crop Over. Hutchings' father, Anum Iyapo, is a graphic designer who worked on albums by artists including King Tubby and Jah Shaka, and recorded a reggae poetry album called Song of the Motherland in 1985.[4]
Returning to England, at the age of 19 he went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he received a classical-music degree on the clarinet.[5] In London, he joined the Tomorrow's Warriors programme,[6][7] a blues workshop led by British bassist Gary Crosby, Janine Irons and expat New Orleans trumpeter Abram Wilson, where Hutchings met many of his future collaborators in the burgeoning South East London jazz scene.
Hutchings and many of his contemporaries shrug off the "jazz" label, eschewing the restriction especially as the many groups reflect influences ranging from acid house and drum & bass, to hiphop and soca, with less of a blues influence than jazz, which reviewers have noted marks a distinction between the London scene as represented by Hutchings and American jazz music.[11]
Shabaka and the Ancestors debuted in 2016 with the album Wisdom of Elders on Gilles Peterson's Brownswood Recordings label. The Comet Is Coming, a trio with keyboardist Dan Leavers and drummer Max Hallett, received a Mercury Prize nomination for their debut album Channel the Spirits, released on The Leaf Label in April 2016.[12] Sons of Kemet, a quartet of saxophone, tuba and two drummers, launched with the album Burn in 2013, followed up with Lest We Forget What We Came Here to Do in 2015, both on the Naim Jazz label, before moving to Impulse! for Your Queen Is a Reptile in 2018, which coincided with a breakout into wider public consciousness of the UK jazz scene, captured by the attention on the Hutchings-directed compilation We Out Here on Brownswood.[11] In November the same year, Hutchings curated part of the programme for the Dutch Le Guess Who? festival.[13]
In March 2020, Shabaka and the Ancestors released We Are Sent Here by History under Impulse! Records. Hutchings was due to take part in a series of concerts to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, but these were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[14] Instead, a group was assembled under the name London Brew in December 2020 to record an improvised set inspired by the 1970 album. This would go on to be released in March 2023.[15]
In May 2022, Hutchings released his debut solo EP, Afrikan Culture, under the mononym Shabaka.[16] On New Year's Day in 2023, Hutchings issued a statement on his Instagram page, that he would take a hiatus from playing the saxophone from the end of 2023.[17] He later clarified his reasons for doing so, citing the physical and emotional strain that comes from performing on the saxophone on tour.[18] His final live saxophone performance took place on 7 December 2023, where he played John Coltrane's A Love Supreme at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.[4]
Hutchings has won a MOBO Award for best jazz act with the Sons of Kemet in 2013,[20] the Paul Hamlyn Composer Award in 2014,[21] and Jazz Innovation awards from Jazz FM.[22]
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