Kamasi Washington – Heaven & Earth

Description

Kamasi Washington arrived on the international jazz scene from Los Angeles with a bang after the release of 2015’s three-disc, three-hourThe Epic. While he’d been around for a decade, playing withSnoop Dogg,Kendrick Lamar— whoseTo Pimp a Butterflyhe arranged and played on — the mammoth project turned him into jazz’s perceived savior almost overnight. But he understood his own mission remarkably well and has remained undaunted by the hype. His second, double-length long-player Heaven & Earthwas announced via tweet: “The Earth siderepresents the world as I see it outwardly, the world that I am part of. The Heaven siderepresents the world as I see it inwardly, the world that is a part of me.” Washington reassembled hisNext Stepband — which includes bassistsMiles MoselyandStephen “Thundercat” Bruner, drummersRonald Bruner, Jr.andTony Austin, trombonistRyan Porter, pianistCameron Graves, keyboardistBrandon Coleman, and vocalistPatrice Quinn— supplemented by a jazz orchestra,West Coast Get Down, a symphony orchestra, and choir.

Heaven and Earth is a major dose of Afro-Futurism. Earth opens with a killer cover of the theme fromBruce Lee’sFist of Fury, retitled in plural here.QuinnandDwight Tribleduet on lead vocals backed by a soaring, sweeping choir atop a cooking Latin jazz groove complete with montunos fromGravesand a raw-boned solo from Washington (who is on fire throughout). The other cover is a funky take onFreddie Hubbard’s “Hub-Tones,” with layers of propulsive Latin rhythms.Dontae Winslow’s jagged trumpet solo cuts across the mix before Washington’s tenor answers. Of the originals, “Connections” is a space jazz embrace of hard bop and 20th century West Coast jazz, with great solos fromPorterandWinslow, while “Testify” owes as much to Caribbean grooves and soul as jazz. Heaven commences with the spectral “The Space Traveler’s Lullaby,” with its gorgeous warm brass and reeds, swelling symphony strings, and soaring wordless chorus sounds like theGil EvansandSun Raorchestras playing together. “Vi Lua Vi Sol” features a vocoder vocal fromColeman, withPorterblowing fills and a beefy solo, swooping synth lines atop Afrobeat drumming, and a popping upright bassline. The breaks and future funk of “Street Fighter Mas” owes equally toMiles Davis,Lamar, andEarth Wind and Fireas the choir extrapolates on the harmonics before Washington’s skittering R&B-drenched solo. “Song for the Fallen” weds angular avant-jazz and future funk to wiry fusion and a multivalent rhythmic attack — with the choir adding a celestial bent. Heaven & Earth is more a refinement of the ideas expressed onThe Epicthan an entirely new paradigm. There is less wandering, more focus, more inquiry and directed movement, as well as an abundance of colorful tonal and harmonic contrasts. More than anything else, it establishes Washington as a composer and arranger of dizzying potential and still underscores his twin rep as a soloist and jazz conceptualist. via AllMusic

Label:Young Turks
Format:5 x Vinyl, LP, Album
Released:2018
Genre:Jazz
Style:Contemporary Jazz, Fusion

File under: Modern / Future Jazz