Kamasi Washington - The Epic

new "EP" Harmony of Difference is out!
Sounds great so far

though it's funny this is an EP in today's bloated mindset, it's 6 songs including a 13+ minute epic and 31 minutes, that could easily be an old jazz LP

Truth is so brilliant and epic, definitely one of my favorite tracks of the year

yeah i really like this a lot and honestly with its brevity i could see throwing it on more often than the epic

Yeah this is a little closer to the live show, loving it

This did not get a happy review in the Graun: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/sep/28/kamasi-washington-harmony-of-difference-review

I like the EP a lot; the short songs have a strong CTI/early '70s vibe to me - Hank Crawford, Stanley Turrentine, the good early Grover Washington Jr. albums, like that.

a series of vapid Kenny G numbers.

WRT to the Guardian piece, there should be a Godwin's Law for bringing up Kenny G in a jazz review IMO

like the minute you bring up Kenny G, it's a failure of writing and failure to really engage with anything or think about it, it's just an easy line

otm

unperson: otm wrt those 70s CTI records

man for a spiritual hat thread this got kind of fighty

I still like The Epic but have already played Harmony of Difference more often ... I'm really looking forward to seeing him tonight

You won't be disappointed. I've seen him twice, and both shows were A++.

Live he is so great
I'm totally with you on the new
In so many ways it just feels like a fat free distillation of what I liked about the Epic, and I think the production/engineering is way better

yes, mix is much clearer!

They were excellent, of course -- with seven players + one vocalist, their sound wasn't quite as dense as on the albums, but it was hotter, funkier, and louder than I expected ... Patrice Quinn is a force of nature

i still haven’t unwrapped my copy of “the epic”

i’m just always like ... three hours??

did they still have these guys?

both drummers, the one who looked like the weeknd and the older dude who looked like he should run a pizza by the slice place in Queens

I think I never checked out this year's album because I'm still digesting The Epic but, yeah, live show was fantastic.

the two drummers last night were Robert Miller and Ronald Bruner Jr. ... Kamasi introduced them with lengthy, funny stories about how he'd met the former in kindergarten and the latter at a third-grade birthday party

Kamasi's father Rickey Washington played on most numbers and had one soprano sax solo that really fired up the crowd

the warm family vibe was pretty amazing

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.