Kazemde George Trio

A Berkeley-raised saxophonist who is well on his way to international fame, Kazemde George steps back onto the Joe Henderson Lab stage with his phenomenal trio.  

As a youth coming up in the Bay Area, George fell under the tutelage of area luminaries Khalil Shaheed, Charles McNeal, and Susan Muscarella, and combined his formal jazz training with his love of beat-making, inspired by the work of J Dilla and Flying Lotus.  

After his move east for jazz studies at New England Conservatory and a joint program in Neurobiology at Harvard, George expanded his horizons beyond jazz and hip-hop to include work in the Afro-Cuban, Afro-Caribbean, and Afro-Brazilian traditions, and he has performed with a wide-ranging list of greats including Solange Knowles, David Murray, Jason Moran, and Ethan Iverson. 

His 2021 debut album, I Insist, was released on trumpet great Dave Douglas’s Greenleaf Music label and features a vibrant collection of originals, backed by a superb young band including keyboardist Isaac Wilson, bassist Tyrone Allen II, and drummer Adam Arruda, along with vocalist Sami Stevens. In its review, DownBeat magazine enthused: “What is most successful about I Insist is an insistence of music as not simply technical proficiency, but as a spiritual plane to consider what is at stake in imagining and remembering who we are.” 

George’s sophomore session, Ocean Passage, features his trio with bassist Allen and drummer Kayvon Gordon.