In May of 2015, Los Angeles saxophonist Kamasi Washington released his triple-disc debut album, The Epic-and promptly became a phenomenon, critically adored and featured in newspapers, magazines and on Charlie Rose. It’s the most meteoric rise of any jazz musician in recent memory, perhaps in a generation. To wit: Thirteen months later and against all odds, still-newcomer Washington finds himself closing the 2016 DC Jazz Festival.
In fairness, his performance on June 19 (the last of the festival’s 10 days) had a hell of a lead-in. Washington headlined a seven-hour marathon of music that was part of the festival’s “DC Jazz Fest at the Yards” segment. Held for its fourth year at Yards Park, a picturesque (and futuristic) outdoor space near the Washington Nationals’ baseball park, the lineup also included trumpeter Igmar Thomas and the Revive Big Band; drummer E.J. Strickland’s electric group, Transient Beings; and D.C. alto saxophonist Fred Foss, paying tribute to his mentor Jackie McLean.
