• News

• All

Mar 06, 2024 By Mark Redfern Photography by B+

Modern jazz icon Kamasi Washington has announced a new album, Fearless Movement, and shared a new song from it, “Prologue,” via a music video. He has also announced some tour dates. Fearless Movement is due out May 3 via Young. AG Rojas directed the “Prologue” video, which was choreographed by Samantha Blake Goodman. Watch it below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover artwork, as well as Washington’s tour dates.

Fearless Movement features a slew of collaborators, including André 3000, who plays flute. Various musicians also contribute vocals to the album, including George Clinton, BJ The Chicago Kid, Inglewood rapper D-Smoke, and Taj and Ras Austin of Coast Contra (who are the twin sons of California rapper Ras Kass). The album also features regular collaborators Thundercat, Terrace Martin, Patrice Quinn, Brandon Coleman, and DJ Battlecat.

Washington says Fearless Movement is his dance album, but that doesn’t mean he’s switched to electronic music. “It’s not literal,” Washington says in a press release. “Dance is movement and expression, and in a way it’s the same thing as music—expressing your spirit through your body. That’s what this album is pushing.”

Another big influence on this album was the birth of Washington’s daughter a few years ago. She is even featured on the album in that she wrote the melody to the album’s “Asha the First” when she was first experimenting on the piano.

“Being a father means the horizon of your life all of a sudden shows up,” says Washington. “My mortality became more apparent to me, but also my immortality—realizing that my daughter is going to live on and see things that I’m never going to see. I had to become comfortable with this, and that affected the music that I was making.”

Fearless Movement features “The Garden Path,” a new song he shared in 2022. The day after the song was shared, Washington performed it for the first time on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which was also his TV debut. “The Garden Path” was one of our Songs of the Week.

Washington’s last album was the acclaimed double album, Heaven and Earth, released in 2018. It was our #1 album of 2018. Read our 2018 cover story interview with Washington.

Washington was also one of the artists on the cover of our 20th Anniversary Issue (Issue 69).

He’s also in the supergroup Dinner Party, alongside Terrace Martin and Robert Glasper, and they released a new album, Enigmatic Society, in 2023.

Fearless Movement Tracklist:

1. Lesanu
2. Asha The First featuring Thundercat, Taj Austin, Ras Austin
3. Computer Love featuring Patrice Quinn, DJ Battlecat, Brandon Coleman
4. The Visionary featuring Terrace Martin
5. Get Lit featuring George Clinton
6. Dream State featuring André 3000
7. Together featuring BJ the Chicago Kid
8. The Garden Path
9. Interstellar Peace (The Last Stance)
10. Road to Self (KO)
11. Lines in the Sand
12. Prologue

Kamasi Washington Tour Dates: May 4—New York, NY—Beacon Theatre
May 5—Philadelphia, PA—Union Transfer
May 7—Toronto, QC—History
May 8—Cincinnati, OH—Ludlow Garage
May 9—Detroit, MI—St. Andrews Hall
May 10—Chicago, IL—Thalia Hall
May 11—Minneapolis, MN—Fitzgerald Theater
May 12—Omaha, NB—Slowdown
May 14—Houston, TX—House of Blues Houston
May 15—Dallas, TX—House of Blues Dallas
May 16—San Antonio, TX—Empire Theater
May 17—Austin, TX—Empire Garage
May 30—Vancouver, BC—Vogue
May 31—Seattle, WA—The Showbox
June 1—Eugene, OR—McDonald Theatre
June 2—Portland, OR—Crystal Ballroom
June 5—Sacramento, CA—Crest Theatre
June 6—Monterey, CA—Golden State Theatre
June 7—San Francisco, CA—Warfield
June 8—Santa Cruz, CA—The Catalyst
June 9—San Diego, CA—Belly Up
June 11—Mesa, AZ—Mesa Arts Center
June 16—Los Angeles, CA—Hollywood Bowl Jazz Fest

Subscribe to Under the Radar’s print magazine.

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.