Kamasi Washington

Kamasi Washington, the Los Angeles saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, earned the label of new jazz visionary when his sprawling three-disc spiritual jazz-funk masterpiece The Epic appeared in 2015. Although similar predictions have circulated since the 1950s, the description here points to the breadth of his musical and cultural encounters across numerous artistic fields. His approach merges modal and soul-jazz with funk, hip-hop, and electronic elements without rigid divisions. Beyond his own projects he belonged to Throttle Elevator Music and sat in on sessions spanning many styles. The 2018 successor Heaven & Earth stood out for its sweeping, almost cinematic approach to writing and sound. Fearless Movement, issued in 2024, turned toward terrestrial existence and the development of physical motion within the human form.

A native of Los Angeles, Washington first handled a saxophone at age thirteen after already exploring other instruments, at which point his true direction became clear. Soon afterward he served as lead tenor saxophonist for the Hamilton High School Music Academy back home. He later enrolled at UCLA in ethnomusicology. During those studies he cut a self-titled 2004 album with the Young Jazz Giants quartet, assembled alongside Cameron Graves and brothers Ronald Bruner, Jr. and Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner.

Thereafter Washington performed and recorded extensively with leading figures from varied backgrounds, among them Snoop Dogg, Raphael Saadiq, Gerald Wilson, McCoy Tyner, George Duke, and PJ Morton. Between 2005 and 2008 he issued several independent solo recordings while also working as one of the three members of Throttle Elevator Music. In 2014 his versatility surfaced on Broken Bells’ After the Disco, Harvey Mason’s Chameleon, Stanley Clarke’s Up, and Flying Lotus’ You’re Dead!, alongside further projects that touched indie rock, forward-looking jazz currents, and experimental electronics.

The next year he appeared on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and delivered The Epic through Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder imprint. This nearly three-hour triple album assembled the remaining members of Young Jazz Giants—now operating inside his expanded collective known alternately as the Next Step and West Coast Get Down—plus a string orchestra and choir led by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. Both critics and audiences responded strongly; the set reached number three on Billboard’s jazz chart. Washington crisscrossed the United States, performed in Europe and Japan, and added contributions to releases by Terrace Martin, Carlos Niño, John Legend, Run the Jewels, and Thundercat while maintaining a busy touring schedule. That March he introduced a six-song project at the Whitney Biennial together with a film directed by A.G. Rojas and visuals from Amani Washington. Early in 2017 he unveiled Harmony of Difference, a newly composed six-movement suite, again at the Whitney Biennial; the performance was later shaped into a six-track, thirteen-minute EP, his first original material since The Epic. Released that September, the suite examined the conceptual reach of counterpoint through five distinct movements capped by a closing piece titled “Truth” that wove together motifs from the preceding sections.

Washington followed with the double album Heaven & Earth in 2018, which included input from Thundercat, Patrice Quinn, and Miles Mosley; the singles “Fists of Fury” and “The Space Travelers” preceded its arrival. Two years afterward came Becoming, the original score for director Nadia Hallgren’s documentary tied to Michelle Obama’s 2018 memoir. Following the pandemic and the birth of his daughter, Washington shifted from earlier cosmic and metaphysical themes to a grounded perspective for Fearless Movement in 2024, reflecting the changes brought by parenthood. The sessions featured Andre 3000, George Clinton, Thundercat, Terrace Martin, and Quinn.