Jazz legend Kamasi Washington was influenced by anime, and now he’s making music for one
- Kamasi Washington, a Grammy-nominated jazz musician, has been influenced by anime and is now creating music for an anime series called “Lazarus”.
- The series’ creator, Shinichirō Watanabe, is known for his work on popular anime shows like “Cowboy Bebop” and “Samurai Champloo”, which also featured jazz-infused soundtracks.
- Washington’s music in “Lazarus” reflects the existential dread and emotional intensity of Watanabe’s storytelling, amplifying the show’s visual and narrative strengths.
- The anime series “Lazarus” tells the story of a team fighting to save humanity from extinction after being poisoned by a lethal toxin disguised as a painkiller.
- Washington has collaborated with notable artists such as Raphael Saadiq, Lauryn Hill, and Kendrick Lamar on his music projects, showcasing his versatility and influence in the jazz genre.
Even if you aren’t big into jazz, there is a very good chance that you’ve heard the deep vibrations of Kamasi Washington’s tenor sax. The Grammy-nominated musician has put out multiple studio albums, and counts Raphael Saadiq, Lauryn Hill, and Kendrick Lamar as some of his past collaborators. And more recently, he composed one of the three mesmerizing soundtracks to Shinichirō Watanabe’s new anime series Lazarus.
Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, the shows Watanabe’s most well known for, are testaments to his own love of jazz and hip-hop. Both series used their soundtracks to amplify the emotional and visual strength of Watanabe’s storytelling. And even though it’s a very different kind of narrative, the same is true of Lazarus.
In each of Washington’s tracks you can feel the existential dread baked into Watanabe’s latest vision of the future. Lazarus chronicles a misfit team’s fight to save the world after the whole of humanity learns that it has been poisoned with a lethal toxin disguised as a painkiller. With extinction appearing imminent, society starts to unravel and people’s lives begin to fray. But as much as the idea of dying terrifies Lazarus‘ characters, their predica …
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