Staff Reviews

Kamasi Washington - Heaven & Earth

Review by Adam Turner-Heffer

Yet another example of Washington’s incredible prowess»

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Groundbreaking artist Kamasi Washington’s highly anticipated second album Heaven and Earth set via Young Turks. The long-awaited follow up to Washington’s debut The Epic, Heaven and Earth is comprised of two halves, which find Washington confronting quotidian realities with cosmic themes. A further investigation of Washington’s world building ideas, the new album explores his reckoning with current global chaos and his vision for the future. Washington convened his band, The Next Step, as well as members of the long running collective The West Coast Get Down at Henson Studios in Los Angeles to record the 16 tracks on Heaven and Earth. The music was composed, written and arranged by Washington, with new arrangements of jazz and bebop legend Freddie Hubbard’s Hubtones and iconic kung fu film theme Fists of Fury, as well as one song by bandmate Ryan Porter. Thundercat, Terrace Martin, Ronald Bruner, Jr., Cameron Graves, Brandon Coleman, Miles Mosley, Patrice Quinn, Tony Austin and many more contribute to the album. Heaven and Earth is over two and a half hours of music.

“The world that my mind lives in, lives in my mind.” This idea inspired me to make this album Heaven and Earth. The reality we experience is a mere creation of our consciousness, but our consciousness creates this reality based on those very same experiences. We are simultaneously the creators of our personal universe and creations of our personal universe. The Earth side of this album represents the world as I see it outwardly, the world that I am a part of. The Heaven side of this album represents the world as I see it inwardly, the world that is a part of me. Who I am and the choices I make lie somewhere in between.” Kamasi Washingtondescription from www.roughtrade.com