Kamasi Washington @ Manchester Academy
Friday 24th May, 7pm
Kamasi Washington is a Los Angeles-based saxophonist, composer, and bandleader who was branded the future of the new jazz on the arrival of his three-disc The Epic.
While the term has been bandied about since the 1950s, what it refers to in his case is Washington’s diversity given his wide experience playing with artists of many disciplines. His sound draws few boundaries between modal and soul-jazz, funk, hip-hop, and electronic music.
He didn’t pick up a saxophone until he was 13 years old, but by that point, he’d already been playing several other instruments. That’s when he found his calling. Within a couple years, he was the lead tenor saxophonist at Hamilton High School Music Academy in his native Los Angeles.
After graduation, he attended UCLA to study ethnomusicology. While enrolled at UCLA, he recorded a self-titled album with Young Jazz Giants, a quartet he had formed with Cameron Graves and brothers Ronald Bruner, Jr. and Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner, released in 2004.
Manchester Academy, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PR
0161 232 1639
www.manchesteracademy.net
