A few years ago, Kamasi Washington was an LA based tenor saxist best known for his work with the Gerald Wilson Orchestra and his being a co-founder of The West Coast Get Down along with Ronald Bruner/dr, Steven Bruner/eb, Ryan P erter/tb, Cameron Graves/p, Brandon Coleman/key, Tony Austin/dr and Miles Mobley/b. Then came the three disc gauntlet of a debut album The Epic, an ambitious piece of music with his WCGD friends and beyond, with music covering the waterfront from vintage jazz to Alice Coltrane Jazz of the New Age. What to do for a followup?
This two disc (plus a mini cd in the middle of five songs) set is almost as Wagnerian as the premier, still including his core WCGD team as well a team of percussionists, brass, an orchestra of strings, woodwinds, a choir and guest vocalists Patrice Quinn and Dwight Trible in a mix of dramatic sonic panoramas, modern R&B, vintage jazz and symphonic Afrobeats. The two major cds, labeled “Heaven” and “Earth” to “represent the world as I see it inwardly (and) outwardly,” have only slightly different moods all with climatic moments.
There immediate take away is how attractively pulsating and relentless the rhythm team is, creative rivulets for Washington’s fierce lion of a roar as well as for trumpet, bass, guitar and keyboards in the solo sections. The other impression is the strength of Washington’s composing; mellow soul pieces such as “Journey” while the gospel with choir “Testify” is riveting. Mixes of all genres meld like a gumbo soup on many of the pieces, such as the funky avant jazz of “Song for the Fallen” (with a gritty solo by the leader) and “Connections” mixes oil colors such as hard bop and space cadet musings, as Dontae Winslow and Porter sear in with trumpet and trombone respectively. Something like a battle of the bands between vintage Gil Evans and Sun Ra takes p lace on the delightful “The Space Traveller’s Lullaby” while hip hop vocoder voice from Coleman teams with Porter on “Vi Lua Vi Sol,” all propulsed by Afro Cuban grooves.
Of the covers, there is a take of the classic “ Hub-Tones” that is accentuated by funky Latin percolations along with penetrating solos by Washington and Graves, while the theme from Bruce Lee’s film “Fist of Fury” has Quinn and Trible team up for a pumped up protest theme. Carol King’s “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and Stan Vincent’s “Ooh Child” are given a spray of Afro Sheen, giving the entire 2 cds plus a feel of grasping for something just out of reach, but pocketing more accessible things along the way. Can’t wait to see what this band does in concert. One of the most important, if not the most important young man with the tenor and pen, both with a sound and style sui generis.