Kamasi Washington- Live In Central Park

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Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava.

This is a Post Script to my recentpiece on Kamasi Washington’s “The Epic.”

I stood for 2 and a half hours before the show Saturday, June 18, to get a good spot to hear Kamasi’s Central Park debut (his third NYC appearance as far as I can tell) at Summerstage in Rumsey Playfield along with a packed house of a few thousand I’d guess. It was well worth it. He, and “The Next Step,” lived up to every bit of what I’ve heard on “The Epic,” and on various live performances that are circulating online.

They were positively incendiary.

Here are a few photos I shot of what will be a long remembered concert.

The personnel consisted of-
Kamasi- Tenor Sax
Ryan Porter- Trombone
Brandon Coleman- Keyboards
Miles Mosley- Bass
Tony Austin & Ronald Bruner, Jr- Drums
Patrice Quinn- Vocals
Special Guests-
Rickey Washington (Kamasi’s Dad!)- Flute & Soprano Sax
Ingmar Thomas- Trumpet

If you want to get the full effect, check this out-

One of the most striking things about this concert, beyond how so very very good every single Musician in The Next Step is, is that a good number of people in the crowd actually DANCED!

Yes…Danced!

Jazz was DANCE MUSIC, that was also great to listen to, early on, right up until Bebop came along in the 1940’s and was too fast to dance to. It’s a great sign that in addition to being excellent musically, this music is DANCEABLE! Don’t miss them next time, which I hope is very soon.

PS- My piece on the opening act, Jacob Collier, is here.

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