Kamasi Washington Live at The Institute Birmingham review.

Who have thunk it? Jazz is cool again. It's hard to imagine why a genre so heavily associated with its golden era of the 'cool jazz' greats who provided a calm defiance to an era dominated by discriminatory right wing politics, racism, police violence and the fight for African-american men and women to be treated as equal to other human beings. Of course none of this has any relevance to the era we live in today. So why has Jazz gained relevance again? It may be partially down to Kendrick Lamar's game changing 'To Pimp a Butterfly' album and the man who played his saxophone all over that iconic record, Mr Kamasi Washington. Kamasi is a big man with a big afro, a big saxophone an a big band. everything about him and his music screams BIG! Not least his aptly titled debut 3 hour long record 'The Epic'. All this begs the question of whether Kamasi Washington is the new kid on the block or a genuine jazz legend in the making, the millennial answer to Coltrane or Davis. The best way of course to try and answer that question is to see him live. Before I got the chance to do this however Oscar Jerome (6.8/10) and his band kicked off proceedings. Oscar Jerome is a jazz guitarist and bandleader who specialises in a very modern style of jazz, mixing live experimentation with tight vocal and guitar led songs. Their live performance was enjoyable but maybe just a bit low key to really be wowed by. The same cannot be said of Yussef Dayes (8.4), the drummer and leader of a trio on keyboards and bass. Yussef is a fantastically talented jazz drummer who backed by the hard kitting bass and keyboards of his band out on a truly thrilling show. The trio are able to jam and reach incredible highs them bring the vibe down to a quiet lull. Compared with Kamasi's band they seemed relatively punk and new school in comparison, threatening to steal the show.
While Kamasi Washington's name may have been on the posters, it's hard to imagine a  more ego free band leader. Kamasi's band are less of a band than a travelling musical family. Kamasi introduced every member of his band individually, telling stories of their friendships and how they came to be on the stage. He seems especially close to keyboardist Brandon Coleman. Telling the crowd of how he managed the feat of mastering the keyboards in only two years and beaming with pride as his friend had his chance to shine during an incredible solo. Kamasi Washington's live show is a test of endurance for any jazz fan, stretching roughly 10 songs into a 100 minute masterclass in musicianship. At it's heights, such as the shared solo piece between his two drummers, it was thrilling, but for pieces such as the solo on soprano saxophone by his father Ricky Washington, not quite as much. Kamasi only gave himself a short chance to shine with one sax solo and a speech that prefixed the live version of 'Truth' (which had the lead melody performed by Brandon on a vocoder rather than sax and stretched out far pst its original time). Kamasi explained that "you're gonna hear us play 5 different melodies at the same time, as a metaphor for how beautiful this world can be when we all come together".
In slight contrast to 'Trruth' Kamasi's version of the Bruce Lee theme tune 'Fists of Fury' made for a defiant end to the show as singer Patrice Quinn made the statement that "Our time as victims is over, we will no longer ask for justice, instead we will take our retribution".
After all this it's hard to really say who Kamasi Washington really is. As I saw and learned more about his friends and band-mates than the man himself. As to whether he is the next jazz legend, only time can really tell. (8.8)


Links:
www.oscarjerome.com
www.facebook.com/pg/yussefdayes
www.kamasiwashington.com