The album is a statement of faith. Washington's work has always been marked by his spiritualism, but Heaven and Earth also displays unwavering belief in us earthlings. It finds joy in the potential limitlessness of our species' experience and endeavour.
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.
While his 2015 Brainfeeder release The Epic covered a lot of ground and was massive in scope, Heaven and Earth is a more tightly wound mechanism, encapsulating Washington's imagination and emotion in finely packaged ethereal harmonies.
As a listening experience, Heaven and Earth contains the most transcendent moments of his output thus far, as well as some of the gnarliest.
This is the rare jazz record that feels equipped to venture outside the genre’s familiar borders and engage with the wider world.
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.
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.
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 and Earth is more a refinement of the ideas expressed on The Epic than an entirely new paradigm.
Heaven & Earth is ultimately yet another example of Washington’s incredible prowess behind the saxophone but also as a composer.
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.
Heaven, the ideal world. It will never be true, but it's nice to dream.
Earth, the real world. It is cruel and twisted, but only if you pay too much attention.
When these worlds collide, the product is symbolised by this album.
A united world of Yin and Yang.
Ok so like this album generally seems to retain the same level of quality & skill as The Epic, like it's all there, but this was just way more uninteresting to me than The Epic. It had some amazing moments of ecstatic bliss on songs like the opener, the last couple songs, Street Fighter Mas, the ending of Vi Lua Vi Sol & Tiffakonkae, but like ultimately there's really nothing that this album offers that you couldn't get on The Epic. I can't tell if it's a good or bad thing that it's ... read more
Kamasi's sophomore album "Heaven and Earth" is on the same level of its amazing quality and talent on the 2015 debut "The Epic". It's sound can be really joyful and soulful at some cost, but is seemingly less interesting than it was last time as the sound gets more repetitive and limited.
Black History Month 20:
Very gorgeous moments on this album, stunning beautiful Jazz is something Kamasi Washington is known for. But the pacing on this is horrid. There are several tracks on this album with grand build-ups and payoffs and the next track will do the same thing, which feels like a compilation album. As a listening experience, it was hell sitting through three hours of a pacing loop as there was really no progression on this album unlike the prior album. Just not worth the time ... read more
1 | Fists of Fury 9:42 | 99 |
2 | Can You Hear Him 8:54 | 97 |
3 | Hub-Tones 9:09 | 94 |
4 | Connections 8:23 | 91 |
5 | Tiffakonkae 9:24 | 93 |
6 | The Invincible Youth 9:52 | 91 |
7 | Testify 5:43 | 94 |
8 | One of One 9:50 | 94 |
1 | The Space Travelers Lullaby 10:31 | 95 |
2 | Vi Lua Vi Sol 11:06 | 94 |
3 | Street Fighter Mas 5:57 | 93 |
4 | Song for the Fallen 12:41 | 96 |
5 | Journey 8:50 | 90 |
6 | The Psalmnist 7:18 | 91 |
7 | Show Us the Way 6:51 | 92 |
8 | Will You Sing 10:12 | 98 |
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