Kassa Overall is an acclaimed Seattle-born and-based Grammy-nominated, Doris Duke Artist Award-winning, jazz drummer, emcee, vocalist and producer, who as a child drum prodigy taught himself to make beats on an MPC and ASR 10 he acquired at a Seattle Police Department auction. Over the course of his 20+ year career, Overall has firmly cemented a unique sound that sees him seamlessly blending jazz, hip-hop and avant-garde experimentation across six, critically applauded mixtapes and albums that actively pushed genre boundaries while being engaging and accessible.
His last effort, 2023’s ANIMALS explored the complexities of his identity as an artist and as a Black man in America, while featuring collaborations with an eclectic array of artists including Danny Brown, Lil B, Vijay Iyer and JOVM mainstay Nick Hakim.
Adding to a growing profile as a sought-after collaborator and one of contemporary jazz’s most exciting artists, Overall has toured and recorded with Geri Allen, Jon Batiste, Steve Coleman, Vijay Iyer, Terri Lynne Carrington and Gary Bartz. His production work can be heard on albums by the likes of Theo Croker, Arlo Lindsay and Danny Brown among others.
The acclaimed Seattle-born artist’s fourth album CREAM is slated for a September 12, 2025 release — both digitally and on vinyl — through Warp Records. The album reportedly sees Overall paying homage to the twin passions of his youth — hip-hop and jazz drums in the tradition of Elvin Jones. The eight-song album sees the acclaimed musician and producer transforming beloved, hip-hop classics by The Notorious B.I.G., Wu-Tang Clan, Dr. Dre, A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets and Juvenile into rhythmically adventurous, witty and sublime jazz-inspired standards.
“This album is almost a boomerang response to all my previous work. No edits, no overdubs no samples or drum machine,” Overall says. “Just a great group of musicians playing together. It just so happens that the compositional material we are drawing from is rap records I grew up on!”
Last month, I wrote about CREAM‘s first single, a breakneck 15/4 Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie-era bop-like arrangement of Digable Planets’ 1992 smash-hit “Rebirth of Slick,” that manages to pull out and restore the swing of the original sample, Art Blakey‘s “Stretching.”
CREAM‘s latest single “C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)” is a Giant Steps/Love Supreme-era Coltrane-like arrangement based on the classic, beloved 1993 Wu-Tang anthem that manages to dissolve the long-held boundary between spiritual jazz and golden age hip-hop. Remade in a minor blues in 3/4 time, Overall’s take on the song manages to pair spiritual jazz’s deep and thoughtful soulfulness and golden era hip-hop swagger in a way that’s hypnotic and remarkably cinematic.
“Their whole energy was an alternative to the get-the-money-shiny-suit mentality. For me, the original ‘C.R.E.A.M.’ was a commentary on ‘Get Money,’” Overall says of his love of Wu-Tang. “It was realism. It pointed out everyone’s scrambling and striving to get ahead, but it also nodded at something beyond that. You could transcend and even control the material world through a higher divine nature.”
Overall sees the transcendent message of Wu-Tang Clan, John Coltrane’s spiritual pursuit of music, and his own praxis as fundamentally connected. “I heard stories of ‘Trane’s band playing in clubs with eight people and they would be playing like their life depended on it, driven by the spirit and purpose of the music,” said the Seattle-based drummer. “People see us as entertainers, trying to be seen, trying to get money, but we are also trying to get to some deeper work.”
Overall just finished a run of the European festival circuit. He’ll be embarking on a lengthy Fall 2025 tour, playing clubs and festivals across North America, Japan and Europe. The tour includes a two-night stand at the Jazz Gallery. The full list of dates are below. Tickets and more can be found on his website, here.
Kassa Overall Live Dates
July 2025
11th – Siligo – Sardinia, IT
12th – Gaeta Jazz Festival – IT
13th – North Sea Jazz Festival – NL
17th – Gretchen – Berlin, DE
18th – Bari Jazz Festival – IT
19th – WROsound – Wroclaw, PL
September 2025
3rd – Solar Myth – Philadelphia, PA, USA
4th – Mannys – State College, PA, USA
5th – Otis Mountain Get Down – Elizabethtown, NY, USA
6th – De La Luz – Holyoke, MA, USA
8th – The Falcon – Marlboro, NY, USA
9th – Cafe 939 – Boston, MA, USA
10th – Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club – Portsmouth, NH, USA
12th – Jazz Gallery – New York, NY, USA
13th – Jazz Gallery – New York, NY, USA
14th – Keystone Korner – Baltimore, MD, USA
16th – Snug Harbor – Charlotte, NC, USA
17th – Missy Lane’s – Durham, NC, USA
18th – Missy Lane’s – Durham, NC, USA
October 2025
8th – Blue Note Tokyo – Tokyo, JP ***NEW***
9th – Blue Note Tokyo – Tokyo, JP ***NEW***
10th – Blue Note Tokyo – Tokyo, JP ***NEW***
23rd – Minaret – Los Angeles, CA, USA
25th – Earshot – Seattle, WA, USA
31st – JazzKlub – Frankfurt, DE
November 2025
3rd – Lower Third – London, UK ***NEW***
6th – Mladi Ladi Jazz – Prague, CZ
8th – Rockit – Groningen, NL
Discover more from The Joy of Violent Movement
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.