Kamasi Washington makes the Guardian's best of 2015 list

The Guardian has declared saxophonist Kamasi Washington’s immense 3 CD debut album ‘The Epic’ among the best albums of 2015 alongside the likes of Young Fathers, Sleater-Kinney and Bjork. Noting his collaborations with r&b stars Raphael Saadiq and Erykah Badu, his playing for rapper Kendrick Lamar and electronic producer Flying Lotus, Washington receives heavy praise from the broadsheet for an album that elevates itself beyond the perceptions of jazz with strings and a full choir.

Meanwhile Kamasi has revealed one of his main influences is the stirring spiritual jazz of drummer Max Roach with wife Abbey Lincoln on his 1962 album ‘It’s Time,’ and it’s easy to hear. Speaking to Los Angeles' famous Amoeba Records he fills his shopping bag with favourite music from Fela Kuti, Jason Moran, Perez / Patitucci / Blade, Curtis Mayfield, Brazilian soul man Ed Motta, Terri Lyne Carrington, Alice Coltrane, traditional Indonesian music, classical scores and Japanese Anime films.

See more on the Guardian’s best albums of 2015 here.