Cameron Washington and Lazy Californians - Back to San Francisco

GA Russell · 2026-01-08T18:09:40Z

Cameron Washington

Brings His New Orleans-Inspired

Lazy Californians

To the World Stage with

"Back to San Francisco,"

Set for Feb. 13 Release Via

Angel Island Records

Bay Area Trumpeter-Vocalist Debuts His 9-Piece Jazz/Brass/Groove Band

With a Gregarious Mix of Originals, Standards, & Traditional Songs,

Augmented by Multiple Special Guests

CD Release Celebration at the Bodega, San Francisco,

Friday, Feb. 13

January 8, 2026

Band name and album title notwithstanding, it’s the sound of New Orleans jazz and brass bands that resonates loudest on Back to San Francisco, the irrepressibly grooving debut album by Cameron Washington and Lazy Californians, dropping February 13 on Angel Island Records. But neither are there any misnomers here: trumpeter-vocalist Washington and his unique nine-piece band are indeed based in the City by the Bay, where they ply the rhythms and flavors that burst forth from this album with the energy and charisma of a blast furnace.

Of course no one would call Lazy Californians a traditional New Orleans brass band, either. The genesis of their aesthetic unquestionably lies in the Big Easy—but how many of those hard-driving street bands also include upright bass and Hammond B-3, let alone practitioners of those instruments with the skills and smarts of bass man Tom Martin or organist Kevin Gerzevitz? How many wade into deep African traditions like Nigerian Afrobeat or kalimba-based folk music?

“I knew I had a sound in my head that was something different,” says Washington, a San Francisco native with Louisiana roots (and a profound student of New Orleans’s musical heritage). “This was a gift to be able to put my favorite friends and musicians together to make this album, and I think we made some magic.”

Bandleader/trumpeter Cameron Washington (center) with Lazy Californians.

Magic it certainly is. Along with the aforementioned ingredients, Back to San Francisco offers generous portions of blues, funk, hip-hop, and R&B, plus other African and Afro-Caribbean flair. Sometimes several of these occur at once: the opening title track places traditional jazz horns (from Washington, guest trumpeter Leroy Jones, trombonist Jeremy Nesmith, and sousaphonist Benwar Shephard) against vocals both hip-hop and soul. “Ricochet” is Meters-style funk by way of New Orleans bounce music (with a searing rap from guest vocalist Todd “Woodz” Woodward), while the blues classic “I Ain’t Drunk” gets refit with a second line rhythm and wailing swing horn solos.

Fantastic though the core band is, Lazy Californians proves to be a big tent, with lots of room for guest musicians to shine as well. Along with Jones and Woodward, guitarist Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz and harmonicist Glenn Appell add layers of fierce electric blues to “Back to San Francisco” and “The Cookout,” respectively. Meanwhile, Waahid Jones adds an impassioned Yoruba chant to “Mêlée in the Vieux Carré” and Shamila Ivory puts a bottomless supply of soul into her vocals on the joyful “Movin’ On Up” (yes, the theme from The Jeffersons) and the stirring “Ken’s Chariot (Swing Low, Sweet Chariot).”

Taken together, it sounds like a party—and it is. The songs are mostly quick hits of good-time music, adhering to a strict mandate from Washington that “It’s got to groove and be fun and accessible.” These Lazy Californians have a rhythmic style all their own.

Cameron Washington was born February 25, 1980 in San Francisco, but even then he was already immersed in New Orleanian music. His father and two uncles were musicians from Louisiana who surrounded the boy with the sounds they themselves had grown up on. Young Cameron cycled through several musical instruments, settling on trumpet in high school—where he also founded an 18-piece jazz big band.

If music was his first love, however, Washington found another in film and video production. After graduating high school, the next step in his education was at the Hollywood dream factory, where he spent four years working behind the scenes on film sets. In 2002 he moved to New York, where he could cultivate hands-on experience in both film and music.

Washington thus brought a considerably deepened CV back with him to San Francisco in 2010, which he was able to parlay into work that included lead trumpet in SFJAZZ’s Monday Night Big Band as well as the launch of his own film production company, Russian Hill Projects. The latter led him to a life-changing expedition in New Orleans, where he produced the acclaimed 2018 documentary A Man and His Trumpet: The Leroy Jones Story.

He also channeled the musical side of that experience into Lazy Californians, which garnered high demand and accolades around the Bay Area. But even that massive region, as Back to San Francisco demonstrates, isn’t big enough to contain the band’s world-embracing sound.

Cameron Washington and Lazy Californians perform a CD release show at The Bodega, 3359 Cesar Chavez in San Francisco, on Friday 2/13, 7-10pm.

Photography: Willy Johnson (band), Parker Washington (Cameron)