The word “epic” connotes all kinds of things that aren’t considered accessible – hard-to-parse Greek poetry and winding tales of medieval heroism chief among them. So the long line outside New York’s Blue Note an hour and a half before the New York debut of Kamasi Washington and his live interpretation of his album The Epic may surprise the average passerby. Beneath the ivory-tower-ready name, however, Kamasi Washington and his band of merry LA-based musicians have created a three-disc tome filled with some of the year’s most vibrant and crowd-friendly jazz, which they brought to life last night on Tuesday on the Blue Note stage.
For his New York debut as a bandleader, Washington brought along some of the friends. “I met Terrace when I was 13,” Washington told the crowd when introducing Terrace Martin, alto saxophonist and heavyweight hip-hop producer for the likes of Snoop Dogg, “and he was bad way back then.” Martin brought the bandleader on board for Kendrick Lamar’s similarly epic album To Pimp A Butterfly, where he worked alongside fellow hometown hero bassist Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner – who also joined the band at the Blue Note.
Opening with Askim, the band laid down grooves so deep they threatened to run through the stage. “The rhythm is thick up in here,” Washington said, alluding to the two drum sets and two bassists (one upright, one electric) onstage who seamlessly took the song through everything from a retro-sounding shuffle, to a modified reggae beat, to one that was almost samba-like. The crowd were moving in their seats, naturally.
The effortlessness (of both the songs and the stage banter) was a natural byproduct of the band’s long history – many of them have been playing together since high school. In particular, Bruner and his brother, drummer Ronald Bruner Jr, brought to the jazz club the same precision-thrash intensity first honed as teenage members of metal band Suicidal Tendencies – and with the set’s amped-up atmosphere, their arena-ready solos worked. At their feet? Rapper Mac Miller, perched on the stage steps, bobbing along reverently to the song’s many crescendos.
That foundation laid the groundwork for the horns’ heartfelt solos – joyful and unhurried, they invited in the crowd by altogether eschewing any latent pretensions. Though aesthetically the sound was a hearty mix of soul jazz and contemporary composition, the group’s welcoming attitude was a tribute to jazz’s occasionally messy, brash and party-ready beginnings. A wah-wah pedal for a bowed upright bass solo? An onstage drum-off? It all fits with Washington at the helm.
Still, it’s more than the one-offs that set Washington’s crew apart. Above all, the band – a mix of family and friends who might as well be family – is able to bring the audience into the fold for a boundary-smashing experience that feels less like a performance and more like a conversation.
