Kamasi Washington – Heaven And Earth (2018)

December 31, 2019

Well, I snoozed on the release of this, only discovering it recently. My first main thought, in retrospect, is that it contains lesser experimental passages than The Epic, although the records are similar in terms of scope and length. Heaven And Earth invokes more repetition, to the point where I found that some tracks went on perhaps just a little too long, but this is of course just my opinion. The freeform freakout elements that dashed the monstrous compositions on The Epic like mad stabs of a dripping paintbrush at an already dense canvas seem more restrained, more focus here lies on the beat, the backbone, and possibly more the structure of the songs themselves, including the vocal. Kamasi’s piercing sax lets rip at far too few intervals for my liking.

This is not to say however, that Heaven And Earth is not a stunning record and a monumental achievement of musical composition. Topping The Epic though, it seems, is a difficult task.