The USC Thornton School of Music’s Beyond Category programming continues with acclaimed saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Kamasi Washington, who will take part in a wide-ranging conversation and Q&A with USC Thornton Dean Jason King about music, imagination, community, and the creative possibilities that emerge when artists move beyond the boundaries of category.

Few contemporary artists embody that spirit as fully as Washington. One of the most singular and influential musicians to emerge from Los Angeles in the 21st century, he has developed an expansive musical language that moves freely across jazz, soul, hip-hop, classical music, and the spiritual and experimental traditions of Black music. From his landmark album The Epic to Fearless Movement, Washington has continually challenged conventional ideas about genre and expanded the possibilities of what jazz can be and whom it can reach.

The conversation will explore the experiences and ideas that have shaped his musical language, his relationship to Los Angeles and its creative communities, the role of collaboration in his artistic practice, and what it means to follow one’s imagination in a culture that continually asks artists to define themselves by category.