| Main Performers | Kamasi Washington - saxophone |
| Orchestra or Band | Strings of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra,
Kamasi Washington Band |
| Set List | 'Change of the Guard',
'The Next Step',
'Henrietta Our Hero',
'The Rhythm Changes',
'The Space Traveller's Lullaby',
'The Magnificent 7' |
| Performance Notes | Thrilling California-based saxophonist and composer Kamasi Washington has been described as the biggest thing to hit jazz for years. Having toured for over a decade with artists such as Herbie Hancock, Lauryn Hill and Snoop Dogg, he now brings his own band to the Proms, combining with the strings of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, along with choral backing, to perform tracks from his groundbreaking recent three-disc album The Epic.
Rickey Washington, Kamasi Wahsington's father, played flute and soprano sax as part of the backing band.
"Washington's late-night Prom gave us a paired-down version of the album [The Epic], interspersed with a langourous new composition, The Space Traveller's Lullaby. The conductor Jules Buckley did a heroic job of trying to keep the strings of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the T.O.P. Gospel Choir in some sort of balance, a task made all the more difficult given that Washington's band use two hyperactive drummers. The choir's wordless vocals evoke Donald Byrd's recordings of the 1960s. Washinton himself sometimes has the directness of an old school R&B player."
(The Times, 1 September 2016) |
| Related Archival Material | Proms Guide (RAHE/1/2016/50),
Programme (RAHE/1/2016/109),
Mini-Guide (RAHE/6/2016/45),
Digital Photographs |