Kamasi Washington

Kamasi Washington is a saxophonist and composer based in Los Angeles who conducts orchestral jazz arrangements treating hip-hop, funk, and classical music as equals. His 2015 album The Epic established him as a major figure bridging experimental jazz with contemporary soul and electronic music.

Kamasi Washington's 2015 album The Epic placed him at the crossroads of jazz's experimental past while forging new paths through soul and DJ culture—a three-disc statement that announced something larger than the album itself. Where his earlier albums explored spiritual reflections about the cosmos and metaphysical questions, 2024's Fearless Movement shifted to earthly concerns, shaped by his becoming a father. Working from Los Angeles, Washington conducts orchestral jazz with strings, choirs, and band arrangements that treat hip-hop, funk, and classical music as peers. He took up tenor saxophone at thirteen after hearing his father play, and has spent two decades in service to a recurring question: how do you make jazz that speaks to the present moment without severing its roots.