Carnegie Hall Citywide: Kassa Overall

The Schomburg Center, in partnership with Carnegie Hall Citywide, brings you Kassa Overall live—don’t miss this free Citywide concert!

Hear one of the most inventive artists fusing jazz and hip-hop today. Blending virtuosic and nuanced jazz drumming with sharp lyricism, polyrhythmic rapping, and visionary production techniques, Kassa Overall has been described as “raw, underground, and chaotic … one of modern jazz music’s most audacious futurists” (Pitchfork). The 2025 Doris Duke Artist Award recipient has collaborated with Geri Allen, Jon Batiste, Vijay Iyer, Roy Hargrove, and many more, but he’s best known for “doing what he always does—pushing musical boundaries and finding new ways to express himself through a unique blend of experimental hip-hop–infused jazz” (NPR).

On CREAM, his fourth solo studio album, Kassa Overall pays homage to the twin passions of his youth — hip-hop and jazz drums in the tradition of Elvin Jones. With this collection of instrumentals, the visionary drummer and producer transforms beloved songs from the 90s and aughts into timeless standards that are rhythmically adventurous, witty, and often sublime.

Check out Kassa Overall - C.R.E.A.M. [Wu-Tang Clan] Live at the Cubes, Rotterdam (Official Performance Video)

FIRST COME, FIRST SEATED Events are free and open to all, but due to space constraints registration is requested. Registered guests are given priority check-in 15 to 30 minutes before start time. After the event starts all registered seats are released regardless of registration, so we recommend that you arrive early. We generally overbook to ensure a full house.

Accessibility requests can be made by e-mail [email protected].

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Image header credit: Spencer Ostrander

Lead support for Carnegie Hall Citywide is provided by the Howard Gilman Foundation and the Hearst Foundations. Additional support provided by Northwell Health, Official Healthcare Partner of Carnegie Hall.

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This year, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding! Join us all year long for a wide array of special events, exhibitions, and more as we celebrate this milestone and continue the legacy of Arturo Schomburg.

Schomburg100 | Exhibition | Special-Edition Library Card | Become a Member

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FIRST COME, FIRST SEATED Events are free and open to all, but due to space constraints registration is requested. Registered guests are given priority check-in 15 to 30 minutes before start time. After the event starts all registered seats are released regardless of registration, so we recommend that you arrive early. We generally overbook to ensure a full house.

GUESTS Please note that holding seats in the Langston Hughes Auditorium is strictly prohibited and there is no food or drinks allowed anywhere in the Schomburg Center.

E-TRANSPORTATION NYPL policy prohibits electric transportation devices (e.g., motorbikes, e-bikes, e-scooters, e-skateboards) from being brought into or stored at library sites for any length of time, as this is the best way to keep our spaces & people safe.

AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING Programs are photographed and recorded by the Schomburg Center. Attending this event indicates your consent to being filmed/photographed and your consent to the use of your recorded image for any all purposes of the New York Public Library.

PRESS Please send all press inquiries (photo, video, interviews, audio-recording, etc) at least 24-hours before the day of the program to Leah Drayton at [email protected].

Please note that professional video recordings are prohibited without expressed consent.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, United States

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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