Thursday, May 28, 2015

Kamasi Washington - The Epic (2014-2015)

This is what I just posted on Facebook about this:

Is Kamasi Washington album "The Epic" jazz for Hipsters? The majority of people who are checking it out, how much actual Jazz have they ever spent time listening to?, or maybe more importantly, SEEING LIVE? I haven't listened to all that much of "The Epic" yet (some stuff on YouTube and on an All Songs Considered review the other day), but I would be pretty surprised if it compares much to any of the Dean Magraw shows I've seen at Black Dog Cafe or The Artists' Quarter (how about Red Planet's live album"Space Dust.") Or for that matter, just in terms of 2015 recordings Tigran Hamasyan new record "Mockroot."



I am looking to actual taking this whole thing in, just to see if my perception could be wrong about it. But at a minimum, this album seems like it could be another case of something getting all this hype when there are a lot of other, better, albums and artists that probably deserve even a fraction of the attention (Timbre's new album may not fall into that category anymore however, for better or for worse, given the number of ratings and ranking it is on Rateyourmusic.com's 2015 Chart)



Hipster Link #1
Hipster Link #2
Hipster Link #3
Many ratings and reviews by Hipsters (altho not all positive)