Music Review: Kamasi Washington, Heaven and Earth

Kamasi Washington

JAZZ
Kamasi Washington
Heaven and Earth

Robert Johnson, John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix.

You can now add another name to this list of pivotal music pioneers. His name is Kamasi Washington.

He's in his late 30s and, while, nominally at least, his music is placed in the "jazz bag", the reality is that he's a genre-jumper.

As sax player, band leader, and most importantly composer, he delivers nearly 2 hours of jazz based themes and workouts on Heaven and Earth. And, the thing is, listening to Kamasi and his fellow travellers never seems like a burden.

Yes, it is a tour de force, and yes it is remarkable.

Heaven and Earth comes as a two CD set, or better yet, as a four LP package. Kamasi Washington. A religious experience. Very close.