15 Years Gretchen: Kassa Overall & WNBL

Kassa Overall & WNBL 

Kassa Overall blends jazz, hip-hop, and avant-garde experimentation into his own unique musical language. As a drummer, MC, singer, and producer, he moves between improvised music and beatmaking, spanning a spectrum from West Coast G-Funk to the New York underground. The result is not a simple fusion of two genres, but an open musical space in which both forms are constantly evolving.

Raised in Seattle, Kassa Overall studied drums at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio, where Elvin Jones was among his teachers. Jones’s playing and the tradition of jazz drumming had a decisive influence on his technique and musical style. At the same time, hip-hop remained a central point of reference in his musical development. On his first two albums, “Go Get Ice Cream And Listen To Jazz” (2019) and “I Think I’m Good” (2020), Overall expanded on this approach. Both albums combine the spontaneity of jam sessions with the fast-paced, sample-based approach of contemporary hip-hop production.

His latest album, “Cream,” is dedicated to the two musical passions that have accompanied him since his youth: hip-hop and jazz drumming in the tradition of Elvin Jones. On this instrumental album, Overall transforms well-known tracks from the 1990s and 2000s into new compositions, demonstrating how familiar musical material can be reimagined through rhythm, improvisation, and production.

WNBL: This collective of young musicians from Berlin and Potsdam blends influences from electronic music, jazz, and hip-hop into a unique sound, driven by a powerful horn section and an impressive rhythm section. All members were musically shaped by Berlin’s club culture; they all listen to dub, bass music, and broken beats. Perhaps that’s why they take jazz so effortlessly at face value and deliver impressive live sets, brimming with clever beats, improvisations, and wonderful arrangements.