December 2020

I got turned onto Kai’s playing when I was in college and discovered John McLaughlin’s album “Live at the Royal Festival Hall”. The album features Kai and the legendary percussionist Trilok Gurtu and should be on your list of albums to know… In my opinion, it’s McLaughlin’s strongest work and this trio is… stunning. Truly a masterpiece. Kai was still in his 20’s, I believe when this was recorded!

I also had the great pleasure of studying with Kai during my time in the Bay Area (Kai lives in Berklee).

Kai is equal parts humanitarian, philosopher, artist and poet in most anything he does in life. Of special note (for us bass nerds)… Check out is his ‘chordal slapping’ technique. It’s very unique and he is so expressive in his explorations of the percussive nature of slapping combined with the chordal potential on the bass.

Make sure to check out one of his worksheets available on the materials page which breaks down some rhythmic patterns to internalize when exploring this technique (GRAB IT HERE)

• Website