It was a wondrous and wild evening for jazz lovers as the Emmy- and two-time Grammy-nominated Kamasi Washington returned to Brisbane for the first time since 2022 at QPAC’s concert hall on Thursday evening (12th June).

What transpired was a journey of a thousand trips: a musical expedition that built up, crescendoed, climaxed, and broke down again multiple times, with high points a-plenty and too many triumphant moments to even try to describe.

For the music of tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington has to be felt as well as heard; his band’s musicianship seen to be believed. This was a show that was such a grand exploration of what music can truly be, that over an hour and 45 minutes containing just a handful of tracks this eight-piece collective seemed to have pulled just about every combination of possible notes out of their respective instruments and voice boxes to leave them exhausted, shot, broken.

Washington, when not letting rip on another scorching sax solo, was a softly spoken frontman, whose love for the power of music and family shone brightly.

“Music is such a powerful and beautiful tool we have as humans,” he said. “It can travel across time and space. Some of my best friends died a hundred years before I was born.”

Before ‘Asha the First’, Washington shared a delightful anecdote about his four-year old daughter learning to play the piano and help him write the song, before a searing keys solo by Brandon Coleman. Similarly, before the slower ‘Together’, Washington jokes about how writing a love song and lighting a vanilla candle meant he ended up fathering a child and trombonist Ryan Porter showed his significant skills throughout the track.

It was during the theme for ‘Lazarus’, the Shinichirō Watanabe’s anime series for which he has written the soundtrack, that Washington let rip with one of several almost unfathomable sax solos that builds and builds, and just when you think he can’t go any more, builds even further. ‘Lie In Memory’ allowed drummer Tony Austin and double bass player Miles Mosley to flex their respective jaw-dropping skills, while vocalist Patrice Quinn starred on ‘Vi Lua Vi Sol’ to close out a special show.

Ultimately, this was as impressive a display of musicianship as you’re likely to see – anywhere, any time. It’s clear to see why Kamasi Washington is considered one of the leading saxophonists of our time and this super-talented band made the show simply smoke.

Jazz has an exhilarating future if these guys are at its heart.

For Scenestr