'I just didn't get it': Jazz legend Kamasi Washington didn't like John Coltrane at first

When Kamasi Washington first heard John Coltrane at age 11, he didn't connect with the music. That may sound like a normal reaction for a pre-teen, but Washington is the son of the flautist and saxophonist Rickey Washington, as well as a renowned jazz saxophonist in his own right.

After telling his father he'd like to listen to jazz, the elder Washington excitedly played all his favourite records for him, including Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon and, of course, Coltrane.

"He got so hype," Washington tells Q's Tom Power about this moment. "John Coltrane went right over my head.… I just didn't get it in that moment."

Today, Washington cites Coltrane's Transition as one of his favourite albums. His love of Coltrane eventually blossomed when he was 13 or 14, after he took a trip to Hollywood's Tower Records where he spotted a CD of the album. He knew his father's vinyl copy was scratched up, so he bought the CD for him.

It was like I saw the sun for the first time.- Kamasi Washington

On the bus ride home, Washington decided to give Transition a listen. "It was like I saw the sun for the first time," he says. "It completely changed my trajectory and what I was into and what I was doing musically. I was hooked. My dad said I got baptized."

In the decades since then, Washington has become a colossus in jazz music. His distinct sound has captured the imagination of many listeners, including a younger crowd. In a way, the reception to his music is similar to his experience of coming to love Coltrane. As he tours around, he notices that many people who come to his shows aren't even jazz fans.

"We were going and playing these venues for different types of audiences," he tells Power, "And they were really into it. We got nothing but love."

But Washington often hears people assume that people don't like jazz music, despite seeing evidence to the contrary. During his tour for his new solo album, Fearless Movement, he says audience members regularly get up and dance. 

"People think of [jazz] as something that you should just sit and listen to, that it's something that should be observed rather than participated in," he says. "I think the reverse. I think that those styles of music — or the style of music that I make — they lend themselves so well to that kind of mutual expression."

Washington sees that more audiences are open to jazz music now. He hopes that people will come back to the jazz music they've heard before, but didn't resonate with — just as he did with Coltrane.

"The beautiful thing about life is that we grow and we change and we learn," he says. "It is what, for me, gives me hope … I can attain understanding that I once didn't have."

The full interview with Kamasi Washington is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. He talks more about his jazz influences, Fearless Movement and how fatherhood has changed his approach to music. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Kamasi Washington produced by Ben Edwards.