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West Coast Get Down: Kamasi Washington, Cameron Graves, Throttle Elevator Music
by Russell Perry
In the past several years, a suite of players have emerged from Los Angeles, many of whom grew up together, loosely connected by the name West Coast Get Down. The most visible player in this scene is Kamasi Washington from a jazz perspective, but Stephen “Thundercat" Bruner and Miles Mosley have made significant records in a pop and R'n'B vein. Composer and pianist Cameron Graves anchors Washington's releases and has become known as a significant artist through his own release. ...
Continue ReadingHighlights of the Final Decade of the First 100 Years of Recorded Jazz (2011 - 2018)
by Russell Perry
This is the last of a series of five programs featuring jazz since 1990, presented as a single selection for each year to reflect trends, career highlights and new artists, at least as the narrative appears from the temporally-challenged context of the last 25 years. The idea to attempt such an abbreviated one-track--per-year survey comes from a terrific essay from critic Gary Giddins, “Postwar Jazz: An Arbitrary Roadmap (1945--2001)." As we approach the present our perspective gets more-and-more limited. In ...
Continue ReadingThrottle Elevator Music: Emergency Exit
by Karl Ackermann
The sub-genre of “punk jazz" has existed—on paper— since the 1970s when Patti Smith proposed a collaboration with Ornette Coleman. That partnership did not materialize. When all the moving pieces are pulled together there is little substance to suggest that the category ever shared specific practices or conventions. Then, in 2012, Throttle Elevator Music emerged with their self-titled debut (Wide Hive Records). The original group was a trio posing as a quintet. Drums and guitars were manned by Mike “Lumpy" ...
Continue ReadingThundercat: It Is What It Is
by John Bricker
If you're looking for some dreamy neo-soul and jazz fusion with a charming sense of humor, no one can satisfy you like Thundercat. Released on April 3, his fourth studio album, It Is What It Is, demonstrates his seemingly limitless confidence and charm as a singer, songwriter and bassist, delivering a solid crop of gorgeous and personal songs. After releasing two acclaimed solo albums and playing some incredible features for artists like Erykah Badu, Kendrick Lamar and Childish Gambino, Stephen ...
Continue ReadingKamasi Washington at the NorVa
by Mark Robbins
Kamasi Washington credits his father, jazz saxophonist Ricky Washington, with his success in the music world. The two stood side by side on the stage of The NorVa in Norfolk, Va fronting the rest of Kamasi's band. Washington came to the forefront with the masterful 2015 album The Epic a combination of R&B, hip-hop, classical and jazz. His 2018 follow up, Heaven and Earth, made many “best of" lists cementing the tenor saxophonist's reputation as an important player on the ...
Continue ReadingKamasi Washington at Academic Community Hall of Hong Kong Baptist University
by Rob Garratt
Kamasi Washington Academic Community Hall of Hong Kong Baptist University Jazz World Live Series Hong Kong September 6, 2019 The anointed savior of 21st century jazz, Kamasi Washington is all about size, scale and scope. He writes big, brash, hummable themes, punctuates them with gutsy, garrulous, saxophone solos, and embraces weighty spiritual and sociological themes-- assembling huge groups playing for peace and unity. His big ideas are presented in unwieldy ...
Continue ReadingNate Chinen on jazz criticism and the trouble with defining music
by Leo Sidran
