Kassa Overall featuring Theo Croker
@ Oslo, Hackney
14 November 2021

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“…I feel extremely fortunate because my mother took me to see Elvin Jones when I was nine years old. I just knew I wanted to play drums after that…” Kassa Overall

Kassa Overall biography

Singer, producer, drummer, and MC Kassa Overall is a product of New York City's jazz scene who melds avant-garde experimentation with hip-hop production techniques, reflecting a panoramic musical background from West Coast G-Funk to the sounds of the New York underground.

In the past two years, Overall has released three critically acclaimed projects: “Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz,” “I Think I’m Good,” followed shortly by a “Shades Of Flu” inspired by Madlib's Shades of Blue. Whatever the experiment, Overall remains faithful to the pocket of jazz drums in the tradition of his mentors, the late Elvin Jones and Billy Hart, with whom he studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Kassa Overall has worked with Geri Allen, Steve Coleman, Francis and the Lights, Yoko Ono, Peter Evans, and Gary Bartz. His work as a producer can be heard on albums by Theo Croker (Escape Velocity), Arto Lindsay (Cuidado Madame), and Das Racist (Sit Down, Man). He’s also featured as an emcee and DJ on drummer Terri Lyne Carrington's 2020 Grammy nominated project, “The Waiting Game,” as well as drummer on Carmen Lundy’s 2020 Grammy nominated project, “Modern Ancestors.”