Kamasi Washington announces latest album Fearless Movement

The contemporary jazz innovator, Kamasi Washington, releases his fourth studio LP Fearless Movement, set to release on May 3rd, 2024.

Kamasi won MOJO's Album Of The Year award nearly 6 years ago for his established album Heaven And Earth. Now, the sax player is back with an entirely different mindset.

On this album, Kamasi Washington has shifted his focus from the heavens back down to firm ground, due to the birth of his first child.

“Being a father means the horizon of your life all of a sudden shows up,” he’s said.

"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."

Washington has recruited a solid lineup of collaborators for the project, including André 3000 (on flute), George Clinton, BJ The Chicago Kid, Thundercat, Terrace Martin, and more. Washington's daughter even has a feature on the album. She wrote the melody to 'Asha The First' during a few of her first experimentations on the piano.

Here it is, my new album, Fearless Movement! A celebration of music, dance, and the ever changing maze of the mind that makes us who we are.

Fearless Movement out on May 3rd, 2024.

Prologue, the first single + video is out now! https://t.co/4HofbcAh1M pic.twitter.com/pgB22WinJv

— Kamasi Washington (@KamasiW) March 6, 2024

“I became a father while making this record and within that, I felt the greatest joy, but also the greatest levels of apprehension,” he says from his home in Los Angeles. “There’s a lot of duality. It’s my most grounded record in my most grounded state, where I’m really seeing the beauty in the world, the light in the darkness, through a different lens. It was difficult to make because it was so personal.”

In a press release, Washington calls the project his “dance album,” saying, “It’s not literal. 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.”

Fans can expect to find 'The Garden Path' on the tracklist, a song that Washington performed for the first time in his career when he debuted on late-night television on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. 

Kamasi Washington is a multifaceted composer, instrumentalist, and bandleader.

His three projects - The Epic; Harmony of Difference; and Heaven and Earth are his most current releases and have exceedingly garnered critical acclaim.

Watch Kamasi's music video for the song 'Prologue' below:

As Told To G/D Thyself was Kamasi's short film for which he made Heaven and Earth. The Kendrick Lamar collaborator made this highly ambitious debut in 2019 at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2020, Washington co-founded the supergroup Dinner Party with long-time friends and collaborators Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, and 9th Wonder. Their EP Dinner Party: Dessert was then nominated for a Grammy for Best Progressive R&B Album.

The following year, Washington worked on a cover of Metallica’s 'My Friend of Misery' for their Metallica Blacklist covers project. Washington scored the Michelle Obama documentary Becoming in 2022, earning Emmy and Grammy nominations for this work.

Washington has toured all over the globe and has collaborated and shared stages with Kendrick Lamar, Florence + the Machine, Herbie Hancock, and many more.

Check out the tracklist for Fearless Movement below:

1. Lesanu
2. Asha the First (feat. Thundercat, Taj Austin, and Ras Austin)
3. Computer Love (feat. Patrice Quinn, DJ Battlecat and Brandon Coleman)
4. The Visionary (feat. Terrace Martin)
5. Get Lit (feat. George Clinton and D Smoke)
6. Dream State (feat. André 3000)
7. Together (feat. 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

Listen to 'The Garden Path,' recorded in 2022, and featured in his new record: