One of the great talents in modern jazz, Kamasi Washington is a American tenor saxophonist known for his his meditative and spiritual take on modern creative jazz music.
Born in Los Angeles, he enrolled in UCLA's Department of Ethnomusicology, where he began playing with notable jazz figures such as guitarist Kenny Burrell, keyboardist Herbie Hancock and trumpeter Wayne Shorter. Although boasting a career which at the time included two studio records and a live album. His notoriety and acclaim would soon rise tenfold as he played saxophone on Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly and released his major label debut The Epic in 2015. He would gain further acclaim with his subsequent record Heaven and Earth and for performing the soundtrack to the Michelle Obama documentary, Becoming.
Discography:
- The Proclamation (self-released, 2007)
- Light of the World (self-released, 2008)
- The Epic (Brainfeeder, 2015)
- Heaven and Earth (Young Turks, 2018)
- Becoming (Music from the Netflix Original Documentary) (Young Turks, 2020)
- Fearless Movement (Young, 2024)
Tropes associated with Kamasi Washington
- Afrofuturism: Considered a contemporary proponent of it, given his style of jazz has a particular emphasis on the spiritual and the celestial.
- Breakout Character: After playing on To Pimp a Butterfly and releasing The Epic. He has become a pretty common name in most jazz circles.
- Distinct Double Album: Heaven and Earth. The first part, Earth, has more Latin-inspired percussion, while part two, Heaven has more of a spacey sound featuring an Ethereal Choir. And the hidden part three, The Choice, is a blend of the two. This ties in with the themes he explains in the liner notes:Kamasi Washington: The Earth side of this album represents the world as I see it outwardly, the world that I am a part of. The Heaven side of this album represents the world as I see it inwardly, the world that is a part of me. Who I am and the choices I make lie somewhere in between.
- Epic Rocking: There is rarely an underabundance of tracks on one of his records that go over the ten minute mark.
- Ethereal Choir: All over The Epic and on "Truth."
- Hidden Track: Taken up to eleven with Heaven and Earth, where an entire bonus disc (The Choice, containing five more songs) is hidden in the packaging, and you have to cut open one of the panels to find it.
- One-Woman Song / One-Man Song: "Isabelle," "Henrietta Our Hero," and "Malcolm's Theme." Combined with "Leroy and Lenisha."
- Jazz: One of the biggest names in modern jazz.
