Kamasi Washington performs at the Warfield in San Francisco on June 7, 2024. Aaron Lee/STAFF.

SAN FRANCISCO — “What up, Frisco?” saxophonist Kamasi Washington asked the crowd before delivering a marathon set with his eight-member band Friday night at the Warfield.

Stretching the nine songs, all of which were from Washington’s latest album, Fearless Movements, to close to two and a half hours involved extended improvisational magic from the whole band, along with a number of unforgettable solos.

Vocalist Patrice Quinn got the crowd in the proper headspace with the invocation that begins the album.

“Sing unto the Lord, a new song,” Quinn sang over cymbal washes and mellow keys, quoting Psalm 40. The band launched into “Lesanu,” the album’s opener, with Washington and his two fellow horn players picking up the song’s propulsive main harmony.

Kamasi Washington performs at the Warfield in San Francisco on June 7, 2024.

Washington then set the bar with his first solo of the evening which began with long sonorous blasts before taking flight like a musical murmuration of starlings. The face-melting flurry of notes was almost like heavy metal guitar shredding. But rather than just blistering 32nd notes, Washington’s lightning fast runs leaped and dove with startling unpredictability. Eventually the dazzling virtuosity devolved into guttural skronkage as Washington blew overdriven sheets of sounds from his horn. The crowd whistled and cheered as the band, following the solo, picked up the song’s head in perfect unison again.

Washington explained that the second song was inspired by his 3-year-old daughter, who has taken to playing the piano every morning at “7 a.m. sharp,” which triggered some knowing laughter from the parents in attendance. He played a simple melody he heard his daughter pick out on the piano one morning. “We turned that into this,” he said introducing “Asha the First.”

DJ Battlecat, who moved between a pair of turntables and a rack of percussion, scratched up the song’s prerecorded verses by Taj Austin and Ras Austin.

Kamasi Washington performs at the Warfield in San Francisco on June 7, 2024.

It was a family affair in other ways as well, as Washington was joined by his father, Rickie Washington, who played flute and soprano saxophone and delivered a number of memorable solos, most notably during an epic rendition of “Lines in the Sand.”

“Right now, I’m going to do something I’ve never done before,” Washington said after an extended cover of Zapp & Roger’s “Computer Love,” which featured dueling robotic vocoders and sultry vocals from Quinn. DJ Battlecat then played funk superstar George Clinton’s vocals from “Get Lit,” off the record, while the band played its portions live. At one point, the music moved seamlessly from the recording to the live band, evoking cheers.

Other standout moments included bassist Miles Mosley’s upright bass solo during the final song, “Prologue.” Using an array of guitar effects and musical wizardry, he transformed his acoustic bass into what sounded like Jimi Hendrix’s overdriven guitar, even punctuating the sonic chaos with the riff from Hendrix’s “Them Changes.”

Keyboardist Brandon Coleman took a solo during “Computer Love” that evolved from Herbie-Hancock-sounding electric piano to space age prog rock with all manner of pitch wheel madness. Trombonist Ryan Porter brought a refined grace to the solo during his composition “Together.” Late in the set, Coleman played incredibly gentle and delicate acoustic piano on “Lines in the Sand.”

Two hours into the music, Washington announced they’d play one final song.

“Oftentimes, in order to get where you want to go, you have to leave something behind,” he said, before speaking about the spiritual awakening that he sees before us humans. “As a species, every one of us knows we need to move forward. So we got to let go of this, to grab hold of that. The end is the beginning.”

The band finished the evening with “Prologue.”

Follow photographer Aaron Lee at Instagram.com/aaronxphotos.