Kamasi Washington UK tour dates

One of the most talked about jazz artists of the moment, saxophonist and composer Kamasi Washington, will tour the UK for the first time and will include a hotly tipped performance at Glastonbury Festival and Jazz FM’s Love Supreme Festival 3rd July.

Coming out of a fascinating collaborative music movement in Los Angeles Washington played in the legendary Gerald Wilson Big Band as well as playing and recording with veteran drummer Harvey Mason and a range of different crossover projects including celebrated hip hop saviour Kendrick Lamar, electronic producer Flying Lotus, Herbie Hancock, Lauryn Hill, Nas, Snoop Dogg and Chaka Khan.

To some extent Kamasi surprised the jazz community by metaphorically reversing his spiritual jazz juggernaut into the genre via the electronic music route, signing with experimental imprint Brainfeeder. His audacious debut album could do with a few extra axels to carry the weight too, coming in at around three hours long and spanning three CDs of physical release. It’s this all out belief and audacity that has quickly gained him a cult following. At last year’s London Jazz Festival he sold out a suprise extra date at The Scala in London with 24 hours notice when events forced the cancellation of his Paris concert.

Fans of Washington will be delighted to learn he is taking several members of his collective The Next Step on the road with him. The ensemble is a ‘cosmic soulful fusion outfit’ who offer a modern take on the classic jazz big band, featuring a vocalist, keys, trombone and upright bass player, as well as two drummers.

The collective, formed by some of Washington’s closest school friends including critically acclaimed vocalist and bassist Thundercat, recorded the album in prestigious recording studio Kingsize Soundlabs, stretching their limited recording budget by blocking out 27 days and using the time sparingly to record 6 different albums of material from various collective members and over 130 different tracks. Kamasi’s session resulted in the record, The Epic, which is now considered one of the most significant jazz albums of recent years, hitting number 1 on several iTunes Jazz charts, including the US, Canada, Australia, Russia and UK.

Kamasi Washington won the award for 'International Jazz Artist Of The Year' (sponsored by Yamaha) at the 2016 Jazz FM Awards.

Tour dates:

• Glasgow QMU – June 27th
• Manchester Academy 2 – June 28th
• Birmingham Institute 2 – June 29th
• Bristol Anson Rooms – June 30th
• Love Supreme Festival - July 3rd