It’s a crisp winter night in Sydney and the crowd is filing into Carriageworks — the industrial heart of Redfern turned cultural powerhouse — for a rare appearance by Kamasi Washington. Once a railway workshop, now a cavernous arts precinct, the venue hums with anticipation as part of this year’s Vivid Sydney program.
Kamasi Washington isn’t just a saxophonist — he’s a force who has redefined what jazz can be in the 21st century. Born and raised in Los Angeles, shaped by the city’s rich cultural and musical history, Washington came up through the same experimental scene that produced Flying Lotus and Thundercat. A graduate of the Academy of Music at Alexander Hamilton High, his early years were spent absorbing the language of jazz while keeping one ear tuned to hip-hop, funk, and soul.
His breakout 2015 album The Epic did exactly what its title promised — sprawling, orchestral, deeply rooted in tradition but fearlessly futuristic. Since then, he’s become a cornerstone of a new wave, pushing jazz beyond the clubs and conservatories into something grander and more socially attuned. His fingerprints are on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, he’s played with Lauryn Hill, Chaka Khan, and Run the Jewels, and he’s brought the spirit of Coltrane into dialogue with the urgency of modern protest music.
First up tonight is Micah Heathwood, the Canberra-based producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist making serious noise across Australia’s underground jazz and club scenes. Hailing from the Ngunnawal/Ngambri region, Heathwood’s set is a genre-hopping warm-up that pulses with energy.
The lights dim. The room holds its breath. Kamasi and his band take the stage to a roar that reverberates through the steel bones of Carriageworks. He’s cloaked in a bright orange patterned coat — part spiritual leader, part cosmic conductor — and from the first note, the room is locked in. The band moves as one, every beat and phrase perfectly attuned to Washington’s lead. Down at the barrier, the crowd is wide-eyed and still, riding the wave. Tonight is a masterclass in musicianship, and Sydney is lucky to bear witness.
Photos by Deb Pelser
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