Kamasi Washington - The Epic

nickb tells the truth.

They crammed 82 minutes on a 3lp gotta be a terrible pressing

I'm sorry 170 minutes! I'm not sure how that's physically possible

yeah seems like 150 minutes would be pushing it... isn't 25 minutes about as much as is wise to put on one side of vinyl?

yeah

and even that's pushing it depending on the type of music

does "half speed cut" mean anything to you guys?

3 x black 180g 12" in artworked 3mm spined sleeves all housed in a rigid board outer slipcase. Half speed cut by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering. Includes 2 x 12" poster inserts featuring exclusive artwork by KC Woolf Haxton and story adaptation and calligraphy by Kenturah Davis. MP3 download code also enclosed.

I have no idea about technical stuff but my 3xLP sounds absolutely fine

This is my favourite album of 2015 so far. Seeing him in London in a few weeks, for his first UK show. If it's anything like the NPR YouTube of his album launch gig, I may explode with joy.

mike this is the first time you & i ever agreed on anything musically I think ;)

Ok I'm listening to this RIGHT NOW. I like it.

It's definitely my album of the year even if I am one of those who doesnt listen to much jazz after the 1970s

it is a pretty impressive album, aptly titled for sure imo, just very cool that someone put out an album full of this much ambition and with such a large scope, and to have it received so positively especially for a contemporary jazz album. i have to admit i haven't really absorbed the entire thing enough to get a sense of it, 170 minutes is so much music! i've probably only played the whole thing once, though particular pieces of it more than that.

interesting to hear about the 3-lp set, curious to hear whether or not they pull it off in terms of sound quality. i think i maybe mentioned it on the jazz thread but this is an incredibly dense album musically -- i mean a 10-piece jazz band, 20-person choir, 32-piece orchestra -- that is a lot of sonic information to convey in a recording especially one informed by the chaos of free jazz and ime this album really showed the limits of my modest stereo. i didn't even bother playing it on my car stereo beyond a track or two, it was just too dense and i felt like i was missing a LOT of what was happening. i mean i feel the same way about ascension, that's not for the car or my ipod, but that was recorded beautifully and also it is only what a double quartet?

Def my album of the year too

Can someone report back definitively on the vinyl pressing? I have this on hold at the store here and don't wanna drop $40 if it sounds worse than the CD I already have. Sure does look awesome though

Ive not heard the CD but its fine to me, but I appreciate my ears aren't one to trust

I agree it's initially a lot to process. I ended up working backwards: CD3 is perhaps the easiest to digest, so I stuck with that for a while and left CD1 to last. I also streamed "Re Run Home" and "Miss Understanding" over and over again until they became familiar, later doing the same for "Changing of the Guard" and "Askim". Hacking off little chunks and chewing on them, basically.

Cosmic Slop, have you also heard the album he's put out this year with Throtlle Elevator Music? Jazz sax over rock/punk/thrash, if you will. I also love "Them Changes", his track with Thundercat.

Awhile ago I put together a Spotify playlist of all his non-Epic material that I could round up - not just the Throttle Elevator Music albums (there are three), but the Young Jazz Giants album from about a decade ago and his sideman appearances on albums by George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Harvey Mason, etc. Here's the link.

the organ playing on "Isabelle" is one of my favorite things ever.

Mike I havent but will now thanks to phil's link. thanks!

i dunno about the vinyl, but i got to see him and his band up close in a tiny horse barn at Pickathon and it was life-changing, man. if you have a chance to see 'em, do so.

Only a couple songs in and now kicking myself for not catching his show at Icehouse on Eat Street a month ago.

Dude they were supposed to play until 12, I left at 1:30 and they were still going strong

didn't realise until reading this thread that there was a London gig imminent - sold out obv :(

this album reminds me of the 70s axelrod/adderley groove ..

sold

yeah and parts of it remind me of New Grass and other jazz goes pop thread touchstones

OK, bought the vinyl version today. If it sounds crummy I'm holding ILX responsible

Just kidding, I don't care that much, especially since the packaging looks so cool. Will report back

well, this is some moderately pleasant background music

truly remarkable in how it combines total wallpaper inoffensiveness with showboat egocentrism hero auteurism. and they said it couldn't be done!

They said it about your posts, mainly.

yeah its also what they said about banging your mom

well, this is some moderately pleasant background music

Lester bangs on 'a love supreme' amirite?

The emperor has no edge!

I tried to listen to this the other day but I couldn't really hear it through my tmi earwax storm (ongoing) - in this state all music induces the sensation of longing

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IdgfFbvipsI/maxresdefault.jpg

imago what the hell kind of earwax problem do you have a couple visits to the doctor can't fix

sold on the cover alone

It's basically an ideal of how you want a jazz dude to look

yea cover art is what drew me in even before I heard his name, I th k it was actually on that noteworthy album covers thread

my pals who are not mere dabblers re: the past 40 years of "jazz" —which is what I am and I suspect every single poster here is— seem to be indifferent to this guy. I'm gonna listen, but this does seem like "oh yeah, I'm way into Kendrick and Dangelo, I'd like to listen to a current jazz dude and this is familiar enough…"

imago what the hell kind of earwax problem do you have a couple visits to the doctor can't fix

― ♛ LIL UNIT ♛ (thomp),

they dont like to syringe your ears here incase they damage the eardrum so they give you a bottle of almond oil and you wait 3 or 4 weeks for it to work.

or I could pour some smooth, smooth cosmic jazz into my ear; that should work more quickly

this is like the black crowes of "a Love supreme": this guy not only cops Coltrane's tone but arrangements of that record…

my pals who are not mere dabblers re: the past 40 years of "jazz" —which is what I am and I suspect every single poster here is— seem to be indifferent to this guy. I'm gonna listen, but this does seem like "oh yeah, I'm way into Kendrick and Dangelo, I'd like to listen to a current jazz dude and this is familiar enough…"

I don't think I'm a dabbler (been listening for 30 years, written almost as much about jazz - including 2 books - as about rock/metal over the last 20) and I think the album's great. Went out of my way not to mention Kendrick Lamar when reviewing it for Jazziz, precisely to avoid that whole co-signing phenomenon.

cool, man! see above for what I think so far. I never read Jazziz, but I was still amused to learn that some wags called it "jazzisn't." probly wynton/stanley conservatives who coined it…

what would stanley think of this? it seems to be premised on the last pre-Wynton era that he approves of…but maybe by now, he's like "fuck youngsters, particularly them who play with those horrible rappers"

well, this is some moderately pleasant background music

― ♛ LIL UNIT ♛ (thomp), Sunday, October 4, 2015 12:26 AM (19 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

not sure how anyone with even the slightest understanding of jazz could call this "background music" of any kind, pleasant or otherwise, but I guess it takes all kinds

1# this guy's book is far from written yet
2# if you haven't seen him live I think there a lot you are missing
3# he's not a great soloist yet but there is a lot of potential
#4 it's OK to be excited that a jazz album is reaching out to regular folks!

#4 otm x a million

well, this is some moderately pleasant background music

― ♛ LIL UNIT ♛ (thomp), Saturday, October 3, 2015 11:26 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

truly remarkable in how it combines total wallpaper inoffensiveness with showboat egocentrism hero auteurism. and they said it couldn't be done!

― ♛ LIL UNIT ♛ (thomp), Saturday, October 3, 2015 11:28 PM (Yesterday)

yeah guys i dunno i played through some of this and it was just too boring to stick with, i had a hard time not hearing it in terms of kendrick's backing band and other recent LA-sound stuff that sometimes bums me out for its mushy studio muso-ness.

thomp otm iow

I've ignored this so far bc I assumed it was the latest iteration of spiritual hat jazz

yeah his dad was selling t-shirts at the show i was at, then jumped up on stage and played for some songs

I loved the live show I saw but was sad that the vocalist for some reason had been turned down to background levels during the last big song

I was such an epic dumbass on this thread

Was posting at a bar iirc

I'm not a Kamasi believer. Everything is exactly in the right place but I just don't get the jouissance from it. And I wonder if that 'exactly' is the point: it's too on the money, inhabiting all the right forms without the content. Truth feels like a lesson in how to make an epic: 13-minutes of telling, not showing. Maybe seeing them live is the key. But I think even then the dashikis would make me grumpy.

I know that's hardly an original take and who gives a shit anyway but it's that thing when you know everything's lined up for you to love something and for some reason it leaves you blank and that's what intrigues me.

how much of the silence over the new ep is cos its not on ninjatune.
suspect most people throwing love at EPIC got to hear it via their digital mailing list ?
i have had nothing in my inbox re the new ep at all.

it would be harder to market, no element of surprise, it's not 3 hours long, the cover is poor imo

but "Truth" is a great jam

Agree with everything Chinaski said.

Surprised by that Guardian review, I must admit: I think it's the only bad review for a contemporary jazz release I've ever seen them publish. They review one a week, after all.

I agree with Chinaski too but somehow Kamasi works as jazz junk food to me. Nowhere near as fulfilling as the jazzers of old but somehow not unpleasant to puton now and then

New album due on June 22. Press release here: https://www.normanrecords.com/press/index.php?item_id=170512

Two tracks from the new one are up on Spotify:

"Fists of Fury": https://open.spotify.com/track/1Etl6q0mmPV60TtOCD0uch?si=kn0fPwi7TC2tls18gSjtVA

"The Space Travelers Lullaby": https://open.spotify.com/track/3C9Zbwm1AxCMFDqvyuBQQj?si=d-VPyu59QkuU0nYL7Jyo9Q

I've only listened to "Fists of Fury" so far (each track is ~10 minutes long) but have already pre-ordered the 2CD set.

holy shit @ "Fists of Fury"

https://img0.etsystatic.com/196/0/16650390/il_340x270.1469520110_18v6.jpg

oh yeah fist of fury is amazing, totally different from his usual mode (but retaining a lot of his favorite harmonies and melodic flourishes, of course)

This is so great, and I wasn't that much of a fan of the last one.

Love the choirs & strings on these, really gives it that lost '70s artifact vibe (same for how low the drums are mixed, which I don't love but it works here)

I reviewed the new album for Stereogum. (I forgot to mention that his dad was playing flute at the Forest Hills Stadium show on Friday night.)

Apparently the new album contains a hidden bonus disc, making it 3 CDs or 5 LPs. (The music on the bonus disc was not serviced to reviewers, so now I'm really excited for my pre-order to arrive.)

https://www.discogs.com/Kamasi-Washington-Heaven-And-Earth/release/12135022

5 LPS??? dang

lmao it looks like they did it with the LP version too, requiring you to unearth it?!

The CD packaging is bizarre. The third CD is hidden within the centre section of the gatefold. The only way to free it is to take the extreme tip of a very sharp knife, and slit along the perforations on one side or the other. The CD isn't protected in a slip case, there's just a square sheet of printed paper with it - so you have to take great care not to scratch it while trying to get hold of it. I managed this, but the central section of the gatefold does now look a bit battered. Conceptual.

It's not as bad as all that. I was able to pop the perforations with just my fingers, no knife, and the CD and one-sheet insert came out with no problems. Also, there's a peel-away adhesive strip inside that allows you to seal the packaging up again, making it into a narrow pocket for when you want to replace the third disc.

I've had a close look at the (£43) vinyl sleeve and I can't see a dashiki under the space suit. No credibility.

Is it me or is Heaven & Earth miles better than the older stuff, this shit is awesome

It's great but I don't see it as superior to his other stuff. I like Harmony of Difference the most of all his stuff.

yeah me neither, this and the Epic feel v similar and of a piece

I think there's definitely been improvement from record to record. The arrangements are better on the new record, and the synths are proggier and weirder, which is a plus as far as I'm concerned.

I think that's it tbh

it has a certain zeul-ish-ness for sure

I felt like it had that fusion-y vibe of the 70s, which I liked.

new album coming may 3rd, "prologue" out now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8cKN1rbJl4

Digging both the new songs quite a bit, actually. Can't wait for the full thing.

It's not streaming on Bandcamp yet, but "The Garden Path" from this is also on Spotify (and presumably other services, though I haven't checked).

I haven't listened to the whole thing yet (busy, busy, busy) but I was sent a promo stream. It's a 2CD set, about 82 minutes of music, I think? I've pre-ordered the physical version.

I'm assuming his tour will expand eventually, he definitely owes Raleigh a show, I had tickets to see him in 2022 (or maybe it was last year?) and he canceled the date.

I do respect how hard that tune goes in our time of ambient jazz.