"I’ve Seen How Music Can Unify" Says Acclaimed Saxophonist Kamasi Washington Ahead of Sep 22-23 Blue Note Gigs

The club full of uppity, elitist jazz fans had already made up their mind about Kamasi Washington before the saxophonist and his cohorts even took to the stage. This was back when he and his bandmates backed up hip-hop star Snoop Dogg on tour, and long before Washington released his appropriately titled 2015 triple album The Epic. In between stops on the Snoop tour, Washington and the other members of the band (also now acclaimed stars like Terrace Martin and Thundercat) would stop by local speakeasies to flex their jazz muscles, however the audiences they encountered would be less than enthused because, as he puts it, “they’d have all these preconceived notions about who we are, seeing as we were playing with Snoop. Then we’d go in there and play (the John Coltrane classic) ‘Giant Steps,’ and all their jaws would just drop.”

Today, Washington is being heralded for continually defying the conventional boundaries of in jazz – be it collaborating with hip-hop acts like Kendrick Lamar and Run the Jewels, or dawning African garb and wearing his hair in a massive afro before stepping onstage and compelling the audience to dance with vigor instead of sitting politely. “The biggest problem in this world is ignorance. I don’t even look at it like anything other than reeducating them,” he says of close-minded jazz purists who have dismissed him in the past. “People do have preconceived notions about what someone who looks like me is supposed to be able to do. And looks can be deceiving."

Ahead of his September 22-23 gigs at Blue Note Beijing, Washington told TBJ about breaking down cultural barriers in the Trump era with his new multimedia project Harmony of Difference, his fond memories of collaborating with everyone from Herbie Hancock to Kendrick Lamar, and his hopes that jazz will have a livelier future. During our phone interview he spoke in a soft voice that belied the declarative power of his playing, clearing his throat frequently as if he were still recovering from a recent gig, yet detailing in impassioned, staccato sentences to vivid convey his distinctive point of view. Here are some highlights of the lengthy conversation.

My new EP isn’t just a collection of songs. It’s called Harmony of Difference and it was made in conjunction with my sister, Amani's paintings and a short film by A.G. Rojas, and it’s meant to be an exhibit to celebrate diversity.

So much of the political climate these days has put so much negative energy toward our differences. I wanted to write something that celebrated them. So I wrote five songs that each sound like they come from entirely different places, and then for the sixth track, which is called “Truth,” we played all five of the other songs at the same time. And my sister did a similar thing with her paintings, with the last painting combining the other five into one. Then A.G.’s component, also called “Truth,” is a vivid short film that brings all these abstract ideas into reality.

When it comes to specific events that inspired this project, I guess you could certainly call Donald Trump’s presidency one of them [laughs]. But it’s more about a general sentiment. This idea of creating walls, and banning whole groups of people. And groups like the Alt-Right rising up. It seemed like there was a push against the whole idea of what the US is, which is different people from around the world coming together to join as one.

I’ve seen how music can unify all kinds of different people. People of all races and ages come to my shows. I still feel the majority of people want to make the world a place full of love and compassion, more than those who want to make it one full of selfishness and hatred. But I think sometimes we need a reminder that it’s a struggle we always have to be in, that we’re up against.

I don’t have any trepidation about broaching those controversial themes in my music, or in interviews. I think that you can only really make the music that comes to you. You can’t really control how people are going to react to it. I try to make music that’s honest. I try not to really think about if someone will be upset by it, or if someone doesn’t agree, because essentially my music is an expression of who I am.

Herbie Hancock is definitely someone who inspires me in that regard. He’s always made the music that was in his heart, and he doesn’t look back. I’ve had the good fortune of playing with him a few times, and he’s just a very open and honest musician. Talking to him, he’s very wise in general. He understands that music is a part of life, and that the greater understanding of life you have, the better your understanding of music will be.

Other musicians who I look up to in that way include Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, and Thundercat. Though some people call him electronic, I still consider Thundercat jazz.

I know what Robert Glasper meant when he talked about jazz becoming complacent and elitist. For a while, jazz lost some of its self-expression. Players were trying to express the feelings of others, rather than their own. In the celebration of what it was, they forget about what it is. But now there’s a resurgence of people better connecting with audiences. From that, the music will stretch forever and reach forever, and connect with more and more people.

You want to know my favorite memories of the Snoop tour? Those memories are a bit hazy, a bit purple hazy [laughs]. But it was great to experience that with Terrace and Thundercat. I’ve known Terrace since we were 13, we used to play in a group called The Multischool Jazz Band back then. He’s never staying in one place. He’s always moving and growing and working with new people. And I’ve known Thundercat since we were babies, basically. His dad and my dad were in a band together back in the day. So we’re all excited to see the huge year that Thundercat is having.

It was also a thrill to work on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly with Thundercat and Terrace. We’re all in awe of Kendrick. When you work with him, it’s like an open ticket, you can do whatever you want. And he’s so brilliant that he’ll turn it into something that works with what he’s doing. It’s fun to work with someone who has no limits.

I’m proud of all those collaborations, but I don’t have a wish list of “legends” or “superstars” I want to work with next. I find myself really anticipating working with artists I’ve never heard of. Unknowns entice me the most. As I travel around I constantly meet new musicians, young people who I’ve never heard of that are doing new things. For me, the most exciting thing is doing something I’ve never done before.

So I’m excited to meet the next Kendrick Lamar, or the next Herbie Hancock, and hearing what they’re doing. Someone who’s going to change the world again. That’s what I dream of.

Kamasi Washington will perform at Blue Note on September 22-23. The shows start at 7.30pm and tickets range from RMB 500-600. For more information, click here.

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Email: kylemullin@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @MulKyle

Images: Royal Albert Hall, Consequence of Sound, Crescentvale, Herbie Hancock's Twitter account