Kamasi Washington (born February 18, 1981) is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, producer, and bandleader. Washington is known mainly for playing tenor saxophone.

Background

Washington was born in Los Angeles, California, to musical parents and educators, and was raised in Inglewood, California. He is a graduate of the Academy of Music of Alexander Hamilton High School in Beverlywood, Los Angeles. Washington next enrolled in UCLA’s Department of Ethnomusicology, where he began playing with faculty members such as Kenny Burrell, Billy Higgins and band leader/trumpeter Gerald Wilson. Washington features in the album Young Jazz Giants in 2004. He has since played along with a musically diverse group of musicians including Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Horace Tapscott, Gerald Wilson, Lauryn Hill, Nas, Snoop Dogg, George Duke, Chaka Khan, Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Mike Muir, Francisco Aguabella, the Pan Afrikaan People’s Orchestra and Raphael Saadiq. Washington ventured into big band music when he joined the Gerald Wilson Orchestra for their 2006 album In My Time. Washington played saxophone on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly. His debut solo recording, The Epic, was released in May 2015 to critical acclaim.

Awards

• Winner, 1999 John Coltrane Music Competition

Music festivals and benefits

• Central Avenue Jazz Festival
• Leimert Park African Art and Music Festival, Leimert Park, Los Angeles (2011, 2013)
• KKJZ First Annual Summer Benefit Concert, June 20, 2013, Walt Disney Concert Hall, with drummer Harvey Mason’s Chameleon group.
• Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival April 17 and April 24, 2016
• Superjam at Bonnaroo, June 10, 2016.
• Winnipeg International Jazz Festival, June 21, 2016, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• Electric Forest Festival, June 23–26, 2016.
• Camp Flog Gnaw, Exposition Park, Los Angeles November 12-13, 2016.

• “Kamasi Washington.” www.bonnaroo.com. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
• “Electric Forest Festival.” StubHub.com. Retrieved August 18, 2016.

Discography

As leader

• Live at 5th Street Dick’s, (self-released, 2005)
• The Proclamation, (self-released, 2007)
• Light of the World, (self-released, 2008)
• The Epic, (Brainfeeder, 2015)

As sideman

• Gold by Ryan Adams (Lost Highway Records, 2001)
• Young Jazz Giants – with Cameron Graves, Stephen Bruner, Ronald Bruner (Birdman, 2004)
• Perserverence by Phil Ranelin (Wide Hive, 2011)
• Chameleon by Harvey Mason – on “Black Frost” (Concord, 2014)
• Up by Stanley Clarke – on “I Have Something To Tell You Tonight” (Mack Avenue, 2014)
• You’re Dead! by Flying Lotus (Warp, 2014)
• To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar – arranger on “Mortal Man” (Aftermath/Interscope, 2015)
• The Beyond / Where the Giants Roam by Thundercat (Brainfeeder, 2015)
• Run the Jewels 3 by Run the Jewels – on “Thursday in the Danger Room” (Mass Appeal/RED, 2016)

With Throttle Elevator Music

• Throttle Elevator Music (Wide Hive, 2012)
• Area J (Wide Hive, 2014)
• Jagged Rocks (Wide Hive, 2015)
• Throttle Elevator Music IV (Wide Hive, 2016)

With the Gerald Wilson Orchestra

• In My Time (Mack Avenue, 2005)
• Monterey Moods (Mack Avenue, 2007)
• Detroit (Mack Avenue, 2009)
• Legacy (Mack Avenue, 2011)

• Thom Jurek. “The Epic – Kamasi Washington | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards”. AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-05-05. 
• “Throttle Elevator Music – Album Discography”. AllMusic. Retrieved 30 August 2016. 

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