Kazemde George Duo at Waystone

Kazemde George is an African American Jazz saxophonist, composer, and educator based in Brooklyn, NY. Raised by Caribbean parents in Berkeley, California, Kaz has been playing Saxophone, Piano and Percussion in a wide range of musical styles from an early age.

During high school, Kazemde developed a passion for improvised music while studying under the tutelage of Khalil Shaheed, Charles McNeal and Susan Muscarella. He also began to make electronic music under the moniker “KG,B”. KG,B beats are inspired by Hip-Hop producers such as J Dilla, Madlib, and Flying Lotus, who he sees as the modern counterparts of early Jazz innovators.

Kazemde attended college in Boston where he completed the Harvard/New England Conservatory (NEC) Joint program, receiving his Bachelors in Neurobiology (Harvard) and his Masters in Jazz Composition (NEC). At NEC, Kazemde studied with Miguel Zenón, Jerry Bergonzi, Jason Moran, Cecil McBee, Donny McCaslin, Danilo Pérez, and John McNeil. In 2012, he received Harvard’s George Peabody Gardener Fellowship to study traditional music in La Habana, Cuba for ten months. Through his travels, Kaz has expanded his focus from Hip-Hop and Jazz to include the full spectrum of musical styles which blossomed from the African Diaspora, including Afro-Cuban, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Brazilian, and African-American traditions. As he sees it, the study of these musical styles serves as a way to regain cultural histories that were lost through the processes of African-American Slavery.

Today, his focus is aligned towards music, but Kazemde is also a biologist at heart, and his quest to understand this wide breadth of styles is driven by an analytical mind with a scientific approach.

In October 2021, Kazemde released his debut album, I Insist, on Greenleaf Music by Dave Douglas. His sophomore release is slated for 2026 with La Reserve Records.

Kazemde has performed with Solange Knowles and Saint Heron, David Murray, Jason Moran, Norah Jones, and Ethan Iverson at venues and festivals such as, Dizzy's Coca-Cola Club, Le Poisson Rouge, The Jazz Gallery, Irving Plaza, Yoshi's, Black Cat, The David Rubinstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, Panama Jazz Festival, Made In America Festival, AfroPunk, and Panorama NYC Music Festival.

Also check out other Entertainment events in San Francisco, Music events in San Francisco, Festivals in San Francisco.