Kamasi Washington
@ the Love Supreme Jazz Festival
3 July 2016
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Biography
At the age of 13, Kamasi Washington started a lifelong quest discovering
the many wonders of music. One night, his father left his soprano
saxophone lying on the piano. Washington, filled with curiosity
for all the beauty he heard from the instrument, picked up his father’s
horn. Even though he didn’t know anything about the saxophone
- in fact, never even touched one - he played Wayne Shorter’s
composition “Sleeping Dancer Sleep On,” his favourite
song at the time.
At the prestigious Hamilton High School Music Academy, within
two years, Washington earned the lead tenor saxophone chair in the
top jazz ensemble. At the same time, Washington joined the Multi
School Jazz Band (MSJB) where he reunited with several childhood
friends who were pursuing their passion for music. During his senior
year of high school, Washington formed his first band, “The
Young Jazz Giants,” with childhood friends including Ronald
Bruner, Stephen Bruner and Cameron Graves. After high school, Washington
received a full scholarship to study ethnomusicology at UCLA, where
he explored many of the non-western musical cultures around the
world. During the summer after his freshman year, Washington recorded
his first album with “The Young Jazz Giants” to spread
new sounds of jazz all around the country. In his second year at
UCLA, Washington went on his first national tour with the west coast
hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg. Later that year, Washington joined the
orchestra of one of his biggest heroes, Gerald Wilson, and later
went on his first international tour with R&B legend Raphael
Saadiq.
Over the years, Kamasi Washington has performed and recorded with
many of his musical heroes from various genres, including Gerald
Wilson, McCoy Tyner, Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Burrell, George Duke,
Lauryn Hill, Jeffrey Osborne, Mos Def, Quincy Jones, Stanley Clark,
Harvey Mason and Chaka Khan. Washington’s own band “The
Next Step” is a modern spin on a big band, which includes
two drummers, two upright bass players, keyboard players, three
horns players, a pianist, and a vocalist. In addition, Washington
is part of a west coast musical collective called the “West
Coast Get Down.”
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