[Mercury]

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The Epic by Kamasi Washington

I know it's kind of old news but the album The Epic by Kamasi Washington is pretty mind blowing. And it's getting mad hype. I've not stopped listening for a week and I'm still discovering new things. Whenever I talk about it I geek out, I blurber and blubber and sometimes I shed tears.

I think it's going to be in time a landmark jazz release and I think it's scope and hype and the amount of interest it's generating for hard bop, spiritual jazz, vocal jazz, and really jazz in general is very cool and dare I say possibly very important to current an future musical movements and so forth.

Anyway, I didn't see much discussion on it here on the forums, and the album page is laughable in terms of discussion. So I wanted to make a thread where any of you who've heard it can talk about it and say what tracks you love or hate on it, etc and whatever.


My first yap is DAMN "The Magnificent Seven" is one of the greatest and most awe inspiring tracks I've ever heard.

Okay, bye.

[RockyRaccoon]

The first thought I had listening to the album was that it was like a culmination of everything I've ever loved about jazz. Like it's a quick run through of every jazz great, you can hear Coltrane, you can hear Davis, you can hear Coleman, just everything, and yet it doesn't sound derivative, it's not a cheap imitation, it's still Washington's own thing.

No doubt, it's gonna go right up there with all my favorite jazz albums and I'm really interested in finding it on vinyl (though I feel like that's gonna be a lot of records)
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[Puncture Repair]

I find it really difficult to discuss jazz albums, let alone three hour ones. I've only committed to the whole thing once, and on the first listen it was already the undisputed AotY in my mind. I won't pretend I understand it, I really don't, and I'm sure there's very seasoned jazz listeners here that can break down exactly what's so special about this album, but for now it's the only jazz album that has made me as excited about the genre as classic 50s/60s jazz can.

Also, Kamasi seems like a cool af kind of guy.

[Norman Bates]

I like it, love parts of it ("The Magnificent Seven" obviously), am not crazy about it though (rated it a solid 80 which by my standard means "very good"; but I'm not the biggest fusion jazz buff tbh).

However, I would like to comment on your "landmark" idea. Why is it a landmark?

I tend to hear this album, and read the comments on it, as only one part of an iceberg, namely a raving re-discovery of fusion/spiritual jazz (and maybe more? I'm thinking Matana, Fire! Orchestra, et al) that has been going on in, say, the last three years - culminating (for now) in the rave reviews The Epic has received. I'm looking at you Flying Lotus for instance. So, if it's a landmark, it's probably not a good sign : is The Epic the culmination of this rekindling of an old critics' flame? Is that rekindling even a fact? Am I being totally delirious? Dunno. It does seem to me jazz is back on everybody's map all of a sudden (and in a lot of praised records, looking at you Kendrick).

I would like to state that this by no means diminishes the value of the album (well, it probably does a bit somewhat, inasmuch as the reviews that see this album as bringing something new to the picture are wrong imo, it rekindles something that was out of hype lately, past the obligatory Bitches Brew; but it doesn't inasmuch as I don't consider an album should be revolutionary to be remarkable).

Dunno, just my two cents, and I think I might very well be totally wrong.

[Norman Bates]

[RockyRaccoon]

[Skinny]

Yeah, I certainly don't see this a landmark record, or particularly groundbreaking. I just love great jazz fusion and this is really fucking great jazz fusion. As I said in my chart comment on the record, there are definite/obvious hints of Bitches Brew, Alice Coltrane, the Weather Report, but with a freewheeling, West coast vibe that - at its best - reminds me of great party hip-hop. Could definitely imagine throwing a banging barbecue with disc two playing loud in the background. Also, it's ridiculously consistent, especially given its mammoth run-time. It's obviously wildly ambitious, and introduces an exciting new voice in jazz, but I'm basically with Norman here, except in that I obviously like the record more than he does. It's my favourite album of the year, but it isn't as original as Matana Roberts' latest (which is also in my top three). That Debussy cover is really something, too.
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[dmercado]

I'm also with Norman. The album has a very strong 70's vibe with the background choir and the fusion elements. His style of playing is similar to other tenor players like Coltrane. I was talking about this album with one of my friends who's really into jazz - I thought the album was pretty strong but he said he found it to be bland. He was expecting more based on the hype, title, and length, something landmark and unashamedly new; while I was expecting not very much but found a fantastic update on a style that is long past its heyday. In the end we both agreed it's a solid 8/10. Also, he said the album reminded him a lot of Pharaoh Sander's The Creator Has a Master Plan; I agree, just switch Vishnu for Jesus.
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[Kool Keith Sweat]

I'm going to eventually get to it, but I've been putting off listening to this. Largely because of the running time, but partly because I don't want a history lesson (which is a recurring criticism of the album) and partly because, before I even knew this guy was credited to it, I cringed at a lot of the sax on To Pimp A Butterfly. I consistently thought, "surely Kendrick could have found better samples to further communicate what his words are getting across." I'll give him that the sax was low in the mix, and that will lessen its emotional impact.

I don't know any jazz recordings past about 2005, other than Matana Roberts or Fire! Orchestra. I don't know how Fire! Orchestra blew up, but I'm pretty positive that the reason popular publications are covering this is because it's on FlyLo's label and he was on To Pimp A Butterfly, and then Matana Roberts is on Constellion. NPR is the only publication I follow that covers new jazz, and they don't cover anything very interesting. But publications like Pitchfork, The Quietus, Spin, etc. don't cover it at all except in reissues and then Matana, Fire!, and now Kamasi. Idk but it seems weird. I'm just noticing the same thing Norman said, pretty much, except I'm banking that local free and fusion acts never disappeared, they just stopped being covered until hip labels got behind them.

[Pseud0Scorpion]

That bass breakdown on Magnificent Seven.... My head threatens to explode every time