Kassa Overall is a jazz musician, emcee, singer, producer and drummer. One of the fastest rising stars of New York City’s legendary jazz scene and a self-described “backpack jazz” artist, he melds avant-garde experimentation with hip-hop production techniques to tilt nexus of jazz and hip-hop in unmapped directions, reflecting his dauntless exuberance and panoramic musical background, from West Coast G-Funk to the sounds of the New York underground.

His output is formidable. In the past two years, Overall has released three critically acclaimed projects: Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz (2019), I THINK I’M GOOD, which appeared on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings (February 2020), followed shortly thereafter by a self-released, Madlib-inspired mixtape – SHADES OF FLU (May 2020). Whatever the experiment, Overall remains faithful to the pocket of jazz drumming and African polyrhythm in the tradition of his mentors, the late Elvin Jones and Billy Hart, with whom he studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Overall has been working at the forefront of jazz for two decades, touring and recording as a sideman drummer with artists as varied as Geri Allen, Steve Coleman, Francis and the Lights, Yoko Ono, Peter Evans, Carmen Lundy, and Gary Bartz. His work as a producer can be heard on albums by Theo Croker (Escape Velocity), Arto Lindsay (Cuidado Madame), and Das Racist (Sit Down, Man). He’s also featured as an emcee and DJ on drummer Terri Lyne Carrington’s latest project, Social Science.

Raised in Seattle, Washington, Overall attended Garfield High School, the alma mater of Quincy Jones and Jimi Hendrix. He is currently based in Brooklyn.
https://www.kassaoverall.com

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