Home » Jazz Musicians » Kamasi Washington
Kamasi Washington
At the age of 13 Kamasi Washington decided to begin a life long quest of the many wonders to be found in music. He made this decision one night when after a rehearsal at his home his father left his soprano saxophone lying on the piano and left Kamasi with an uncontrollable curiosity of all the beauty he’d just heard come from it. So he took father’s horn, and even though he didn’t know anything about the saxophone, in fact he’d never even touched a saxophone, and played Wayne Shorter’s “Sleeping Dancer Sleep On”, his favorite song at the time. Kamasi was shocked he had been playing drums, piano, and clarinet for years but he’d never played the saxophone. Yet he was somehow able to play a song from his heart and in that received an early glimpse of the euphoria that music can bring. And at that moment he knew that music was his life’s quest and the saxophone was his voice.
Within two years Kamasi earned the lead tenor saxophone chair in the top jazz ensemble at the prestigious Hamilton High School Music Academy. At the same time Kamasi joined the Multi School Jazz Band (MSJB) where he was reunited with several child hood friends who were well on their way on their own musical quest. During his senior year of high school Kamasi formed his first band with childhood friends Ronald and Stephen Bruner on drums and bass, along with pianist Cameron Graves. The group was called “The Young Jazz Giants”. After high school Kamasi went on to study ethnomusicology at UCLA were he received a full scholarship and was exposed to many of the non-western musical cultures around the world. In the summer after his freshman year Kamasi recorded his first album with “The Young Jazz Giants” a platform they used to spread the new sound of jazz all around the country. In his second year at UCLA Kamasi went on his first national tour with the west coast hip-hop legend Snoop Dog. Ironically this band was made of many of the most talented young jazz musicians in the country. Later that year Kamasi joined The Gerald Wilson orchestra. Gerald Wilson was his biggest hero compositionally and being a part of his orchestra motivated him to make composition the focus of his major at UCLA. In doing so Kamasi began studying many of the great American and European composers.
Read moreTags
Festival International de Jazz de Montreal 2022
by Mike Chamberlain
Various venues Festival International de Jazz de Montreal Montreal, Quebec, Canada July 5-9, 2022 All hail the return of live music! After a three-year break imposed by Covid-19, the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal (FIJM) was back this year with a scaled-down but user-friendly slate of 350 concerts, about 2/3 of which were free. This was a year of transition for the festival, now under new management. In the past, the festival ...
Continue ReadingKamasi Washington, Trombone Shorty and George Clinton Kickoff a New Season of Outdoor Music
by Dave Kaufman
The jny: New York City summer music season kicked off with a series of extravagant concerts that turned out large crowds to the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn in Prospect Park and Central Park SummerStage presentations. The comfortable temperatures and low humidity created perfect conditions for outdoor events. Perhaps, the crowds were also buoyed by a collective sense of the need to get out and experience live music after two years of living with greatly diminished live music opportunities. The BRIC series ...
Continue ReadingRavel, Chopin & Debussy for Jazzheads
by Ludovico Granvassu
In the second part of this week's exploration of jazz inspired by classical music, we focus on projects in tribute to the works of three composers that have influenced scores of jazz musicians, Maurice Ravel, Frédéric Chopin and Claude Debussy. Happy listening! PlaylistBen Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Frank Woeste, Ryan Keberle “Ostinato (Prelude)" Reverso--Suite Ravel (Phonoart) 0:16 Host talks 6:59 René Marie “Bolero/Suzanne" Live at the Jazz Standard (Maxjazz) ...
Continue ReadingThrottle Elevator Music: Final Floor
by Chris M. Slawecki
Final Floor marks the last stop of a band that one might say never really was. Throttle Elevator Music was the name given to a jazz-punk studio cooperative project organized and operating from 2011 through 2017 around saxophonist Kamasi Washington, drummer Mike Hughes (aka “Lumpy") and composer and guitarist Gregory Howe. Howe also founded and serves as producer and engineer for Wide Hive Records, the label that recorded and distributed their music. He notes on the back jacket ...
Continue ReadingWest Coast Get Down: Kamasi Washington, Cameron Graves, Throttle Elevator Music
by Russell Perry
In the past several years, a suite of players have emerged from Los Angeles, many of whom grew up together, loosely connected by the name West Coast Get Down. The most visible player in this scene is Kamasi Washington from a jazz perspective, but Stephen “Thundercat" Bruner and Miles Mosley have made significant records in a pop and R'n'B vein. Composer and pianist Cameron Graves anchors Washington's releases and has become known as a significant artist through his own release. ...
Continue ReadingHighlights of the Final Decade of the First 100 Years of Recorded Jazz (2011 - 2018)
by Russell Perry
This is the last of a series of five programs featuring jazz since 1990, presented as a single selection for each year to reflect trends, career highlights and new artists, at least as the narrative appears from the temporally-challenged context of the last 25 years. The idea to attempt such an abbreviated one-track--per-year survey comes from a terrific essay from critic Gary Giddins, “Postwar Jazz: An Arbitrary Roadmap (1945--2001)." As we approach the present our perspective gets more-and-more limited. In ...
Continue ReadingThrottle Elevator Music: Emergency Exit
by Karl Ackermann
The sub-genre of “punk jazz" has existed—on paper— since the 1970s when Patti Smith proposed a collaboration with Ornette Coleman. That partnership did not materialize. When all the moving pieces are pulled together there is little substance to suggest that the category ever shared specific practices or conventions. Then, in 2012, Throttle Elevator Music emerged with their self-titled debut (Wide Hive Records). The original group was a trio posing as a quintet. Drums and guitars were manned by Mike “Lumpy" ...
Continue ReadingJazz Musician of the Day: Kamasi Washington
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Kamasi Washington's birthday today!
At the age of 13 Kamasi Washington decided to begin a life long quest of the many wonders to be found in music. He made this decision one night when after a rehearsal at his home his father left his soprano saxophone lying on the piano and left Kamasi with an uncontrollable curiosity of all the beauty he’d just heard come from it. So he took father’s horn, and even though ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Kamasi Washington
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Kamasi Washington's birthday today!
At the age of 13 Kamasi Washington decided to begin a life long quest of the many wonders to be found in music. He made this decision one night when after a rehearsal at his home his father left his soprano saxophone lying on the piano and left Kamasi with an uncontrollable curiosity of all the beauty he’d just heard come from it. So he took father’s horn, and even though ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Kamasi Washington
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Kamasi Washington's birthday today!
At the age of 13 Kamasi Washington decided to begin a life long quest of the many wonders to be found in music. He made this decision one night when after a rehearsal at his home his father left his soprano saxophone lying on the piano and left Kamasi with an uncontrollable curiosity of all the beauty he’d just heard come from it. So he took father’s horn, and even though ...
read more
Alabama Shakes, Kamasi Washington Biggest Winners At A2IM's Indie Music Libera Awards
Source:
HypeBot
Alabama Shakes (ATO Records) and Kamasi Washington (Brainfeeder) each won multiple awards at last night's indie music A2IM Libera Awards in New York City. Alabama Shakes won three times and jazz saxophonist Washington was the night’s big newcomer winning two awards. Ted Leo hosted. 2016 Libera Award Winners: Best Live Act Alabama Shakes (ATO Records) Marketing Genius Run The Jewels “#12DaysofRTJ” (Mass Appeal Records) Best Sync Usage Alabama Shakes 'Sound & Color' (ATO Records) ...
read more
2016 DC Jazz Festival Artists and Venues Features a Diverse Array of International Talent
Source:
All About Jazz
The DC Jazz Festival (DC JazzFest)—the country’s fastest growing jazz festival—kicks off Jazz Appreciation month by delineating the amazing array of 2016 artists and venues, a diverse selection of renowned and emerging artists performing in venues across the nation’s capital, June 10-19. Locally, nationally and internationally acclaimed artists confirmed for the 2016 DC JazzFest include Kamasi Washington, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Maceo Parker, Regina Carter, Igmar Thomas & The Revive Big Band with Talib Kweli, Bilal and Ravi Coltrane, Eddie Palmieri ...
read more
Pharoah Sanders
saxophone, tenor
Sun Ra
piano
Moreira Chonguica
saxophone
Tim Chernikoff
piano
Gabriel Bey
trumpet
Wesley Crispus
saxophone, alto
Zac Carson
bass
Josh Andres
multi-instrumentalist
COPUS
band / ensemble / orchestra
Jason McGuiness
producer
Chris Powe
saxophone
Anirudh Chakravarthy
saxophone, tenorPhotos
Music
Videos
Kamasi Washington
Location: Los Angeles
Instrument: Saxophone
Born: February 18, 1981
