Kamasi Washington - The Epic - New West Coast Spiritual Jazz

Listening on Spotify now. Sounds really good!

 

I just listened to an interview streaming on NPR where Kamasi says that the sessions that gave rise to The Epic also produced enough material for (I think) seven other members of the band to get their own album release out of them as well! It will be very interesting to see what comes of those other albums.

I must confess that when I first heard this album it had very much the sound of the sort of thing to which I would incline a friendly ear and then forget about ... but we may be past that now. I'm beginning to suspect that in addition to being an event it may actually be ... good.

 

Strong release. Varied music and the improvising is often fierce. I like it.

 

Strong album indeed, hell of an appropriate title. A 4Lp vinyl (German press?) of The Epic is on its way late in August on Brainfeeder, if that kind of thing appeals to anyone here... Pre-orders are being taken.

 

I like what I've heard so far

 

Link?

 

I've been waiting for Amazon to get CD copies of this in stock for weeks now. Not sure whats up.

 

I don't see anyone else offering it, as of yet... Price is fair, post to the colonies is nearly obscene.

http://www.vinyl-digital.com/en/Beat-Art/The-Epic.html?cur=1&lang=0

 

Interesting. It hasn't even been announced by the label yet.

 

The best guess I can make is that not very many CDs were made because, well, it's a jazz album, but then the glowing review from Pitchfork (and maybe reviews from elsewhere, too) generated a lot of unexpected demand. I know I wouldn't have known about it if it weren't for the Pitchfork review.

 

Exactly! I love this album. I'll take previous posters at their word that this isn't really a particularly groundbreaking album. But it's so good, and sustained for nearly three hours, and it's something that a rock listener and permanent jazz n00b like myself can immediately grasp and enjoy. I suspect it's exactly the sort of record for someone who wants to expand his or her listening palette--you can approach as if it were a rock album, but nonetheless get out of it something completely different from what you typically hear in rock music. I especially like how a few tracks with vocals are scattered among all the instrumentals; they break up the long running time nicely. "The Rhythm Changes" is my favorite.

 

A good album.... like it.

 

The Kendrick Lamar connection and the succes of TPAB probably also generates a lot of interest.

 

That cuts both ways though: Kendrick Lamar's name wouldn't sell me a Jazz album, and I can imagine a lot of Jazz fans fleeing anything with (even a remote) Rap connection. Moreover, if Rap fans are buying The Epic, I foresee a lot of copies turning up at second-hand outlets ...

 

Certainly, only the more fusion-minded listeners on both the rap and jazz side (and I count myself amongst the latter) will be turned on to this album because of the Kendrick Lamar connection. I find it difficult to imagine though that a jazz fan would pass on a jazz album because the musician has played on a rap album, but that's probably just me.

 

Just about 40 minutes until this starts...

 

Just bought my ticket to see him at the Blue Note in August

 

For those of us not awake at 2am (when this aired in Europe) the stream is now available at that link to watch back. I'm just watching it now and it seems to be a couple of hours (of video), which should be enough for the curious to form an opinion.

 

Thanks for the link. The video of the concert is now up.

 

Just a heads up, it's not the entire show as previously reported. But it is two solid hours of mind-blowing music!

 

Why did they have to apply so much dynamic range compression?...pathetic...

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Kamasi Washington - The Epic
Dynamic Range: DR 8

5 tracks on the album have a dynamic range of only DR7.

 

That's too bad about the dynamic range...on the other hand, it's only $11.99 on iTunes, which is pretty damn cheap for a 3 disc set. After only hearing a few minutes of the youtube video posted earlier, I took the plunge. It's more retro than groundbreaking, but then again Kendrick Lamar and Flying Lotus are groundbreaking these days precisely because of the retro elements they use and how they use them (ok, other talents of theirs come into play as well). Based on the one clip this is a style of jazz I like a lot, dressed up with a few modern touches, and I'm damn sure I'll get my money's worth.

 

I was surprised enough by that dynamic range to put a disc into my PC to check (since the Dynamic Range Database entry is based on a lossy download). The first disc is DR9, which is enough to have a lot of people around here flipping tables, but this music is pretty much "naturally compressed" since you have a lot of musicians (some on electric instruments) playing as loud as they can in ensemble for much of the running length.

I'm not sure how much nuance would be revealed by a mastering with more headroom ... and certainly I don't find it to be a bad-sounding album. It doesn't feel to me like an audiophile recording messed up by the mastering: it seems to me that what problems there are can likely be found up & down the recording chain. As for whether it is fatiguing ... well, put that many musicians in your living room playing this sort of music live and I'm guessing it would be pretty fatiguing whatever the dynamic range!

 

What an album...great.
Spectacular funk-soul-jazz-pop: this album does contain 50 years of American music.

 

Just got turned on to this album. Wow! Great, great stuff if not just a bit overwhelming.

I wonder if they would/could ever release a vinyl version...? It would be a lot of wax though.