Kamasi Washington, a saxophonist and bandleader from Los Angeles who rocketed from obscurity to ubiquity last year, has postponed his show at Webster Hall, originally scheduled for next Thursday as part of the 2016 Winter Jazzfest. According to his management, the show will be rescheduled as a “NYC Winter Jazzfest presents” concert on Feb. 24 at the same venue.
The reason given is an injury: Mr. Washington recently broke his ankle while on tour in Europe.
Mr. Washington said he was “really looking forward” to the event. “But per the advisement of my doctors, I can’t take any long flights due to the surgery I had on my broken ankle,” he told The New York Times. “I promise to reschedule a new show as soon as I am cleared by my doctors and will be movin’ and groovin’ with you all in New York with a brand new ‘wheel’!”
Mr. Washington is coming off a banner 2015. He was a prominent contributor to Kendrick Lamar’s hip-hop opus “To Pimp a Butterfly,” hailed by critical consensus as a major work. And since last May, when Mr. Washington released his three-CD debut — “The Epic” (Brainfeeder), an ambitious, spirit-filled jazz-crossover album upheld by some as another of the year’s best — he and his band, the Next Step, had toured extensively, in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Europe and the United States. They appeared in New York in August, and again in October.
On Twitter, Mr. Washington alluded obliquely to his condition, giving it a positive spin:
Starting this year off with a few weeks of writing! #Fun #BeenToLong pic.twitter.com/nRYTRkchbT
— Kamasi Washington (@KamasiW) January 5, 2016
Mr. Washington and the Next Step are to be back on the road soon: his tour picks up again in late February, with a stop at the Noise Pop Festival in San Francisco. He’s also scheduled to perform at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tenn. — and, in a rare booking for a jazz act, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, on April 17.