Prodigious jazz musician Kamasi Washington has announced a new string of Australian tour dates to coincide with his just-announced appearance at Bluesfest 2016. The announcement follows the cancellation of his 2015 tour, due to hip-hop and R&B festival Soulfest getting canned at the last minute.
A masterful saxophonist, composer and arranger, Washington released his phenomenal three-album record The Epic last year, to universal praise. He was also a key player in Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly, Flying Lotus’ You’re Dead!, and can be found on countless hip-hop records, including Snoop Dogg, Nas and Lauryn Hill.
Tickets go on sale this Friday January 15, 1 pm. Telstra Thanks will be holding a pre-sale from 12 pm on January 13. Full details and tickets can be found on Kamasi Washington’s website and Live Nation.
When we interviewed Washington, he had this to say about the uniqueness of each and every live performance: “I don’t try to redo what we did on the album. I play all the songs, I take certain elements, like I’ll start the song with certain elements, and I’ll plan to play certain parts of it. But in general I keep it open, so that when you hear it live, it’s almost like a new, one-of-a-kind-version that you haven’t heard before.”
Tour Dates
Tuesday March 22: The Prince, Melbourne
Wednesday March 23: The Metro Theatre, Sydney
Read our full interview with Kamasi Washington here.