Kamasi Washington performs at August Hall in San Francisco on Dec. 18, 2021. Sean Liming/STAFF.

SAN FRANCISCO —Whale sounds are almost always the sign of a really good jazz show. When the horns take on an otherworldly, aquatic twang in the chaotic roar of the musical maelstrom, when the musicians are covered in sweat, playing with their eyes closed; that’s when you know you’re seeing the real deal. Kamasi Washington, one of the preeminent saxophonists around, brought his backing band The Next Step to August Hall on Saturday night to stoke the passions of the crowd with a blistering, otherworldly set as part of Metallica’s San Francisco Takeover.

“Are you ready to blast off?” Washington asked the audience as he stood at the center of the stage dressed in a brightly colored robe and knit hat. After the band ran through a couple bars of  “Conception” off his 2007 album, The Proclamation, Washington launched into a saxophone solo that seemed to warp the contours of both time and space. He alternated between flurries of notes that chased each other like scattering birds and powerful, syncopated horn blasts that sounded like shrieking lighthouses warning off passing ships.

Kamasi Washington.

Keyboardist Brandon Coleman offered up the next solo on his Moog synth, sporting mirrored shades, a baseball cap and hoodie. In fact, next to Washington, Coleman was clearly a crowd favorite, driving the audience into an ecstatic frenzy during the band’s rendition of “Truth,” from the 2017 album of the same name. During Coleman’s pyrotechnic solo, the keyboardist copped licks from Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit” and what may have been the theme song from “Inspector Gadget.” Washington introduced the song by explaining that he’s come to see truth differently of late.

“It’s not something you have, but something you have to chase every day,” Washington said.

Unlike a rock or pop concert, jazz shows often hinge on musical moments rather than specific songs: a particularly evocative solo, or the return of the whole band to play the song’s main theme or head. During “Announcement” a piece from Kamasi Washington and company’s soundtrack for the 2020 Netflix documentary about Michelle Obama titled “Becoming,” the crowd cheered when the rest of the band joined Coleman’s gentle electric piano intro by dropping into a sumptuous syncopated groove. After a fiery trombone solo from Ryan Porter, bassist Miles Mosley got funky exploring the melody’s lowest notes as the rest of the band stood around, seemingly admiring his musical choices.

Miles Mosley of Kamasi Washington and The Next Step.

“That’s a lot of soul right there,” Washington explained, indicating his band, after finishing the song.

Washington introduced his latest piece of music, “Sun Kissed Child” off the Liberated/Music For the Movement Vol. 3 collection released in June of this year, by telling the crowd he had heard the song in his head shortly after becoming a father.

“What a blessing. It’s a beautiful thing, loving something unconditionally. You should try it,” he said with a laugh.

The song’s groove, like Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” relies on a relentlessly simple three-note bass line that the horn players in the band surf like a wave.

The concert was part of the Metallica’s San Francisco Takeover Days, a series of events commemorating that band’s four decades together as well as their connection to the Bay Area. Washington’s affiliation became clear when the saxophonist introduced his band’s rendition of “My Friend of Misery” which appeared on The Metallica Blacklist, a 53-song collection of covers of songs from the band’s 1991 self-titled LP (Black Album). Washington’s version of the metal classic featured heavy drumming, blaring horns and, after a scorching sax solo from Washington and an amazing drum solo from Robert Miller, vocalist Patrice Quinn repeatedly blasting the crowd with the song’s anthemic rejoinder, “You just stood there screaming!”

The night ended with a rousing rendition of Washington’s plea for social justice, “Fists of Fury,” from his 2018 album Heaven and Hell. The overwhelmingly white audience responded to the song’s growing intensity, dancing and bouncing in front of the stage, before Kamasi Washington ended it with a fist in the air, and the audience exited August Hall into the crisp, cold December night.

Follow writer David Gill at Instagram/songotaku. Follow photographer Sean Liming at Instagram.com/S.Liming.