Love & Saxophone

I sit in my studio today listening to Kamasi Washington’s Album “Heaven and Earth” and I wonder why I love his music. I think the social justice lyric attracts me, Also … his and his band’s chops are amazing. I get the same feeling from some of the songs on H&E that I got from material on Marvin Gaye’s classic “What’s Going On” It is sweeping, cinematic, uses chorale melody that dbls instrumentation, a healthy dose of jazz, soul, Latin, oldschool, nuschool and all kinds of magic that I can’t articulate. A 70’s redux no pastiche. The bass and drums don’t let up. Everyone who rides on their bus knows instinctively what the destination is. Kamasi Washington is transcendental. He plays so fluidly and outside of physical constraint that it’s a series of feelings, moods and reflections. The arranging is strong. Familiar without predictable.

I first heard KW when I was listening to Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly” I’d just purchased the vinyl and was having my own musical ceremony when “U” came on. Who was playing all the moody sax in the back layers of the tune ? Then when the George Floyd riots hit KW played on a song called “Pig Feet” sharing duties w/Denzel Curry - Terrace Martin - Daylyt and G Perico. The track sounds like a riot. Lethal, visceral. The nail was when a friend called and said “Hey man I got a ticket for Herbie with your name on it. Interested ?” “Hell yeah” Little did I know KW was the support act. That concert affected me. I knew I’d just seen an artist that had changed my DNA in an hour. Something about his fiery delivery and exalting of love as the highest hit me. I’d been missing that. Shows that stay with me. Something changed … still can’t shake it.