After claiming his place in the spotlight by overwhelming force with The Epic, Kamasi Washington capitalizes on both his newfound fame and his journeyman work ethic to produce a follow-up that’s more intimate and just as daring at the same time.
Heaven And Earth is shorter than his powerful, three-hour debut, but it might be even more ambitious, splitting its 16 tracks into a two-part concept album: the first reflecting the world as it is, the second depicting Washington’s optimistic vision of the world as it should be.
As with The Epic, Heaven & Earth not only exemplifies Washington’s ability as a saxophonist and band leader, but also the band he has assembled. Every member gets their chance to shine. By drawing from a broader sonic palette, Washington brings a tenderness and intimacy to their big, bold music.
As a listening experience, Heaven and Earth contains the most transcendent moments of his output thus far, as well as some of the gnarliest.
In a decade of major black American LP statements to match the conscious soul and jazz golden age of forty years ago, Washington is, along with D’Angelo, the artist most steeped in that era’s rhythmically liquid language, and Heaven and Earth allows little let-up in slippery grooves and soulful uplift.
Heaven & Earth is ultimately yet another example of Washington’s incredible prowess behind the saxophone but also as a composer.
Heaven and Earth is more a refinement of the ideas expressed on The Epic than an entirely new paradigm.
His second LP, a conceptual double album exploring earth (reality) and heaven (idealisation), is perhaps unlikely to sway the old guard, but it pushes forward with a purposeful vitality that was at times missing from his debut album, The Epic.
There are choirs and strings, rumbling low-end and even some dissonant synthesizer; and there are songs of jubilee and liberation, born equally of church traditions and civil rights marches. Everything’s writ large; it is music that contains multitudes, and it’s teeming with joy and power.
This is the rare jazz record that feels equipped to venture outside the genre’s familiar borders and engage with the wider world.
It strives for boldness and muscular imposition, and aims to stir, excite and inspire. If Washington’s music opens the door for new audiences to explore a wider range of improvised music, it is undoubtedly a positive thing.
By adhering so much to its grand formula, Heaven and Earth comes off as even more cumbersome than The Epic.
#1 | / | Fopp |
#1 | / | KCRW |
#1 | / | MOJO |
#1 | / | Under the Radar |
#3 | / | BBC Radio 6 Music |
#4 | / | Consequence of Sound |
#4 | / | The Observer: Kitty Empire |
#7 | / | The Guardian |
#7 | / | Yahoo Music |
#8 | / | Drift |