Kamasi Washington review – hip-hop and P-funk inform an outrageously joyful set

The Guardian

04-04-2025

'I don't need to be from here to tell you I love you,' Kamasi Washington says, teeing up the velvet soul of Lines in the Sand. From the back of the room comes a voice, propelled as much by the convivial brilliance that has lit up the stage for the past half an hour as it apparently is by a couple of Thursday-night beers: 'I love you too, mate!'
The title of the Los Angeles bandleader and tenor saxophonist's recent album Fearless Movement promised much and largely delivered, but when live, its all-in-it-together spirit grows extra legs. As Washington and his band draw out its tracks into giddy, 15-minute jazz extemporisations coloured by P-funk squelch and rowdy hip-hop, their joy at being able to play together is obvious and wonderful.
When his father, Rickey, takes the lead on Asha the First, pulling dizzying flurries of notes from his soprano sax over a hook first picked out on a piano at home by his four-year-old granddaughter, Washington sits centre stage, nodding insistently. It's a similar scene as trombonist Ryan Porter plays a liquid solo on Together, while amid Road to Self (KO), Washington breaks into laughter at the absurd skill powering Brandon Coleman's keyboard expedition, which sutures G-funk style on to proggy fusion phrasing.
Washington's willingness to cede the floor means that it feels like an event whenever he approaches the mic with sax in hand. During Lesanu he arrives at something dazzling by responding to almost imperceptible tempo shifts plotted by drummer Tony Austin and bassist Joshua Crumbly, the trio eventually clicking in a manner that recalls a rapper finding a cadence that makes a beat feel whole.
There is a similar dynamic at play throughout Prologue, where Washington and Austin spin off from its ingenious melody – somehow driving and patient at the same time – before tumbling into a monumental groove that is greeted by raucous cheers from the crowd. 'We gonna have some fun?' Washington intones to open the set, but by the end it's clear he wasn't asking a question.