Not since the emergence of saxophonist Joshua Redman has a young jazz musician created as big a splash as Kamasi Washington. In 2016, after a decade as a Los Angeles-based sideman and indie label artist, his album The Epic propelled him to the top of many jazz critics’ top 10 list and won him a major feature story in The New York Times Magazine. A sprawling, multi-genre work, The Epic wove together many threads of jazz history in what struck many as one of the most ambitious artistic statements in many years. In addition, Washington has become a widely recognized figure in hip-hop for his role in Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy Award-winning album To Pimp A Butterfly along with earlier work with Snoop Dogg and Rafael Saadiq. Washington has deep connections to LA’s Central Avenue jazz heritage and was a member of veteran bandleader Gerald Wilson’s big band for several years.