DOT BOOK: Kamasi Washington - Beyond Category by USC Thornton School of Music

On September 17th, 2026, USC Thorton School of Music welcomed back one of the most influential and original minds onto its campus to be one of the speakers for their series, "Beyond Category." Kamasi Washington's roots were raised and remain in Los Angeles, where he broke out of the city's bubble to further his impact by releasing breakthrough solo projects such as Young Jazz Giants (2004), The Epic (2015), and Heaven and Earth (2018).

Washington and his band played a crucial role in shaping the sound of Kendrick Lamar's landmark 2015 album [To Pimp a Butterfly], contributing arrangements and sax work. On Kamasi Washington's track "Dream State," André 3000 made his historic first-ever recorded flute debut from the 2024 album Fearless Movement. The list of collaborators continue with names like Herbie Hancock, Flying Lotus, Lauren Hill, St. Vincent, D Smoke, Terrace Martin, and Robert Glasper.

The night opened up with Dean Jason King welcoming Washington onto the stage to review past footage of him playing ten years to the date of the panel at Visions & Voices (2016) - a showcase that includes a performance and interview portion asking each individual player intimate questions that reflect their perspectives on the journey of being a musician.

"There’s a piece of you in every thing you create so in order to be comfortable playing, you gotta be comfortable with yourself," says Washington in the past video. With a few moments to reflect on seeing the footage, a ten years older & present day Kamasi was asked if he agreed with what his younger self. "I do (agree). I think that's what makes artists that are individual to their art stand out so much." He begins to trail into the topic of what it's like being an artist in his genre to hail from Los Angeles. "People hear me say I'm from LA and they look at me in shock. Like it isn't believable that someone could come out of LA and do what we do. Everyone I grew up playing with are some of the most incredible players to know... If the door is open, I don't wanna be the only one going through."

The two dove into dissecting Washington's past works, specifically his project Change of the Guard. He began sharing the lessons and notes he learned from his mentor, Gerald Wilson. "He wrote melodies spontaneously then proceeded to write over and around it still spontaneously." The main line was improvised and so were the harmonies and layers around it while still being complimentary - Washington wanted to channel this maximalist approach when composing Change of the Guard. The tracks are decorated with an assortment of strings, populated choirs, and details that feel opulent yet grounded. "The intention was to be anything but commercial," he says. Kamasi goes on to explain what went behind the album's intention. The title comes from the concept of being able to show proof of how he heard music for the future. Going down a list of artists old and new, Washington expresses that Art Blakey from the Jazz Messengers made music that made him feel like he made music for him even though he died before he was born.

The conversation goes even deeper into something we all should remember more often. "Keep making good music because you never know when or what people are looking for." Music is a funny thing because even if a song is ancient to ten years old to one day since release, it'll always be new to someone. The concept that songs are only important or relevant upon the first few months of release is so limited. Hearing Kamasi Washington speak on something I believed for so long but didn't quite have the time or platform to speak on. One of the biggest things that holds an artist back these days often has nothing to do with the art. We are thrown a billion different ways on how to release music "correctly," we're told a billion and one ways on how not to approach the business side of being an artist. The truth is the industry is ever changing, the majority of people are guessing, and music outweighs time - always.

The concept of relevance and success in relation to time on a linear scale is man made. Our music libraries generalized feature artists that are no longer with us, artists that have been putting music out for 10 years with 10 listeners, and artists we've grown alongside with. The beauty of having music play a part in our lives is it's just as personal as our written out thoughts, our internal decisions, our lists of favorite things that describe us from ages 5 to now. We come accross music that we've never heard before all the time and the best part is there is always new music to fall in love with. New doesn't mean shiny and untouched or unheard - if it's new to you, that's all that matters.

Continue building a relationship with the music you hear. "Writing music doesn’t come from us it comes through us." Washington's conversation with Dean Jason King reaffirmed many things I believe in but also reinforced the mission we should stay true to. "If the door is open I don’t want to be the only one to go through." Collaboration, not competition. Jazz is America's Classical Music. Born in New Orleans, it's taken so many different shapes and forms that as we progress both with the influences of different genres, its definition is often debated. "The notion of what is or what isn’t (jazz) doesn’t help the music or the artist. It gets in the way." We are so focused on trying to box the genre we forget it was built to break the boundaries.