Kamasi Washington - Heaven and Earth

[RogerF]

Kamasi Washington - Heaven and Earth - anyone heard this yet? Any views?

[jazzbo]

On another board comments indicate it seems to be similar to "The Epic" in both the music and the mastering. 

[sidewinder]

Heard bits of it in a shop the other day. First impressions are that it is better than ‘The Epic’, less OTT. Interesting to hear a cover version of ‘Hub-Tones’, which sounded nice.

[B. Clugston]

I'm really enjoying this one. I've only heard bits of the The Epic (which I admired but not really my cup of tea), but I think Heaven and Earth is a step up and more jazzy. At times, when the choir and orchestra are added, it sounds like Ennio Morricone hijacking a CTI session.

[jazzbo]

And don't forget there's a mystery third disc in the center panel of the gatefold cover, it needs to be liberated by cutting the top of the paper divider. I got mine in, freed that disc, will do some listening hopefully later today--my deck is in the process of being rebuilt so maybe not. (Sawing and pounding about ten feet from my system).

[JSngry]

3 hours ago, jazzbo said:

And don't forget there's a mystery third disc in the center panel of the gatefold cover, it needs to be liberated by cutting the top of the paper divider. I got mine in, freed that disc, will do some listening hopefully later today--my deck is in the process of being rebuilt so maybe not. (Sawing and pounding about ten feet from my system).

Seriously?

[Scott Dolan]

What? A man can’t have his deck rebuilt? 

[RogerF]

Thanks for the comments. I haven’t heard any of his previous stuff so will definitely look out for this (and the mystery disc!).

[ghost of miles]

6 hours ago, jazzbo said:

And don't forget there's a mystery third disc in the center panel of the gatefold cover, it needs to be liberated by cutting the top of the paper divider. I got mine in, freed that disc, will do some listening hopefully later today--my deck is in the process of being rebuilt so maybe not. (Sawing and pounding about ten feet from my system).

Thanks for the heads-up... news to me as well.  I bought it at Landlocked the other day but haven't cracked it open yet.

[medjuck]

I read a comment somewhere which said it sounded like Pharoah Sanders meets Cannonball Adderly.  Interestingly enough at Arroyo Secco festival I saw him right after I saw Pharoah.  His father, Ricky Washington, played with him on all but one number. Is he on the record? 

[sidewinder]

10 minutes ago, medjuck said:

I read a comment somewhere which said it sounded like Pharoah Sanders meets Cannonball Adderly. 

I would have said Pharoah meets the Jazz Crusaders with the Star Trek chorus and strings thrown in !

Edited June 28, 2018 by sidewinder

[B. Clugston]

33 minutes ago, medjuck said:

I read a comment somewhere which said it sounded like Pharoah Sanders meets Cannonball Adderly.  Interestingly enough at Arroyo Secco festival I saw him right after I saw Pharoah.  His father, Ricky Washington, played with him on all but one number. Is he on the record? 

Rickey Washington plays flute in the orchestra that's on many of the tracks. He also plays tenor on one of the "hidden" disk tracks.

[mjazzg]

30 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

I would have said Pharoah meets the Jazz Crusaders with the Star Trek chorus and strings thrown in !

Sell it to me, why don't you? 

[JSngry]

So there really is a disc hidden inside the packaging? That’s nuts.

[Chuck Nessa]

10 minutes ago, JSngry said:

So there really is a disc hidden inside the packaging? That’s nuts.

Any indication of an "artist" inside Mr. Washington?

[jlhoots]

48 minutes ago, Chuck Nessa said:

Any indication of an "artist" inside Mr. Washington?

- doesn't do much for me.

[BFrank]

You need to open up the top of the center panel to get the "bonus disk"

[JSngry]

so you have to destroy the package to liberate the music?

there's a potentially useful metaphor there...

[Scott Dolan]

It’s the new version of the hidden track! 

Though it’s hard to beat the Nine Inch Nails CD that changed colors according to the temperature for coolness factor.

[CJ Shearn]

This is a really cool homage to one of my favorite games of all time that I still play semi competitively occasionally, and the appearance of two pro Street Fighter players was pretty nice too, interesting how these two worlds intersect. 

 

[Utevsky]

Somewhere under all those layers of production and bravado there is a decent sax player, I think.

[sidewinder]

I had a listen on Spotify and got fed up with all that mystic bombast. Won’t be purchasing..

[mjazzg]

I did the same with very similar conclusions. I could have taken some of the bombast (I was a teenage Heavy Metal fan after all) if Washington's playing stood up to it. To my ears it didn't so his solos had the effect of deflating the "atmosphere" that was created by the massed choirs etc. 

I like that he's popular and everyone and their dog are supposedly listening to him and i'll continue to give it an occasional spin to see whether my reactions change which is the luxury of Spotify.

 

[sidewinder]

I’ll stick to the Jazz Crusaders, Horace Tapscott and Star Trek !

[Scott Dolan]

4 hours ago, sidewinder said:

I had a listen on Spotify and got fed up with all that mystic bombast. Won’t be purchasing..

This pretty much sums up my feelings. It also just sounds contrived and over-produced.