Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Kamasi Washington both looks and sounds larger than life.
It was an official debut, but Washington had been bubbling under for a number of years.
He put in time touring with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Lauryn Hill, and Chaka Khan.
He guested on albums by George Duke, Quincy Jones, Flying Lotus, even Ryan AdamssGold.
It was a big statement as only someone who only delivers big statements can make.
And ever since, Washington has trended toward grander pronouncements.
So how to top a three-album debut?
With a quadruple album that encompasses the realms ofHeaven and Earth, of course.
It can be mainstream.
Kamasi too wants to go beyond jazz and to present it as part of the mainstream.
But Washington also floats just beyond the rules that can restrict most new jazz stars.
Rather than innovate for jazz heads, Kamasi works instead to integrate this present moments disparate listeners.
Last week, he played Forest Hills Stadium with British indie rockers Alt-J in advance ofHeaven and Earth.
If only that crackling energy revealed itself more often on his latest work.
For all of its sprawl and extravagance,Heaven and Earthis unlike most double or quadruple LPs.
The fury feels spoken rather than sounded.
At the albums most sumptuous peaks, Kamasi reveals that his skills as composer and arranger are unparalleled.
He can conjure the orchestral groove of a young Quincy Jones, the soundtrack tension of Lalo Schifrin.
Tackling Freddie Hubbards Hubtones, he adds a dash of salsa to the original to kinetic effect.
He even gets his Stevie Wonder on with the talk-box soul of Vi Lua Vi Sol.
Each of Washingtons compositions are rhythmically and harmonically dense, almost every piece tidily nearing ten minutes.
Theres a base level of sound that never peels away to reveal any more space.
Its everything all at once for Washington.
In Kamasis sound world, the scale only ramps up but never pares back down.
Half of theHeaven and Earthsongs deploy both massive orchestration and large heavenly choirs in conjunction with the band.
What would Kamasi bring to bear on a jazz standard?
Theres little experimentation with structure, no tweaking of the formula set out byThe Epic.
Or cool down the pace with a slow ballad?
After a few hours, the album moves toward the background, closer to being purgatorial.
