Kamasi Washington's new album "Heaven & Earth" out on 22nd June

American jazz saxophonist, composer, producer and bandleader Kamasi Washington’s highly anticipated second album "Heaven & Earth" is set for release June 22 via Young Turks. Two songs from the double album debuted yesterday, on the 10th of April.

Listen to Earth's "Fists of Fury" from and Heaven's "The Space Travelers Lullaby"!

To celebrate the release of "Heaven & Earth", Washington will tour globally. All the dates are listed below with full details available on Washington's website.

The groundbreaking artist Kamasi Washington wil come to Prague as well. You can see him live on 23th May at the Archa Theatre. More info here »

“The world that my mind lives in, lives in my mind.” This idea inspired me to make this album Heaven & 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 Washington

 

The long-awaited follow up to Washington’s debut "The Epic", "Heaven & 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.

"Fists of Fury" and “The Space Travelers Lullaby” debut yesterday alongside a pair of accompanying scenes created by acclaimed British artist and director Jenn Nkiru. The rich visual contextualisations are inspired by a more expansive collaborative Heaven & Earth film project that is due for release later in the year.

Watch Jenn Nkiru's "Fists Of Fury" scene HERE and her "Space Travelers Lullaby" scene HERE!

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 & 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 & Earth", over two and a half hours of music, will be available on double deluxe CD and a four piece vinyl housed in bespoke double gatefold sleeve, in addition to all digital services. The album is available to pre-order here.

Kamasi Washington is a multi-instrumentalist and producer born and raised in Los Angeles. He grew up playing jazz in the city’s storied Leimert Park neighborhood under the tutelage of his father, Rickey Washington. Forming his first band, the Young Jazz Giants, with Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner, Ronald Bruner, Jr. and Cameron Graves in high school, Washington went on to study ethnomusicology at UCLA and play with Snoop Dogg, Raphael Saadiq and more. His debut album, "The Epic", was released in 2015 to rapturous critical reception, universally embraced as one of the best of the year and awarded the inaugural American Music Prize. "Heaven & Earth" follows "The Epic" as well as Washington’s 2017 EP "Harmony of Difference", an exploration of the musical concept of counterpoint that debuted as an original work for the 2017 Whitney Museum of Art Biennial.

 

HEAVEN & EARTH tracklist

I. EARTH

1. Fists of Fury

2. Can You Hear Him

3. Hubtones

4. Connections

5. Tiffakonkae

6. The Invincible Youth

7. Testify

8. One of One

 

II. HEAVEN

9. The Space Travelers Lullaby

10. Vi Lua Vi Sol

11. Street Fighter Mas

12. Song for the Fallen

13. Journey

14. The Psalmnist

15. Show Us the Way

16. Will You Sing

 

KAMASI WASHINGTON LIVE

April

Sun 15 – Indio, CA - Coachella Music and Arts Festival

Sun 22 – Indio, CA - Coachella Music and Arts Festival

Fri 27 – Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheater

May

Wed 02 - London, UK - Roundhouse

Fri 04 - Manchester, UK- Albert Hall

Sat 05 - Glasgow, UK - QMU

Sun 06 - Cheltenham, UK - Cheltenham Jazz Festival

Tue 08 - Lyon, France - Nuits Sonores @ Auditorium de Lyon

Wed 09 - Paris, France - Bataclan

Fri 11 - Coutances, France - Jazz Sous les Pommiers @ Salle Marcel Hélie

Sat 12 - St Gaudens, France - Festival Jazz a Comminges @ Parc des Expositions

Sun 13 - Madrid, Spain - Riviera

Mon 14 - Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz

Wed 16 - Milan, Italy - Santeria Social Club

Thu 17 - Zurich, Switzerland - Kaufleuten Zurich

Fri 18 - Munich, Germany - Theaterfabrik

Sat 19 - Vienna, Austria - Wiener Konzerthaus

Sun 20 - Diersbach, Austria - INNtone JazzFestival

Tue 22 - Krakow, Poland - Studio

Wed 23 - Prague, Czech Republic - Archa Theatre

Thu 24 - Warsaw, Poland - Stodola

Fri 25 - Berlin, Germany - Astra

Sun 27 - Cologne, German - Live Music Hall

Mon 28 - Nijmegen, Holland - Doornroosje

Tue 29 - The Hague, Holland - Paard

Wed 30 - Brussels, Belgium - Salle De La Madeleine

June

Fri 01 - Amsterdam, Holland - Paradiso

Sat 02 - Hamburg, Germany - Elbjazz Festival

Sun 03 - Copenhagen, Denmark – Pumpehuset

Fri 15 - New York, NY - Forest Hills Stadium (w/Alt-J)

Sat 16 - Minneapolis, MN - Rock the Garden

Sat 23 - Pasadena, CA - Arroyo Seco

Fri 29 - Waitsfield, VT - Friendly Gathering

Sat 30 - Montreal, Quebec - Festival International de Jazz de Montreal

July

Thu 12 – Berkley, CA – Greek Theater (w/Sylvan Esso)

Wed 25 - Detroit, MI - Chene Park Amphitheater

August

Sat 04 - Dublin, Ireland - Beatyard Festival

Sun 05 - Oxfordshire, UK - Wilderness Festival

Tue 07 - Mainz, Germany - Frankfurter Hof Mainz @ Zitadelle Mainz

Thu 09 - Antwerp, Belgium - Jazz Middelheim

Fri 10 - Copenhagen, Denmark - HAVEN

Sat 11 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West

Sun 12 - Helsinki, Finland – FLOW

Sat 18 - Tokyo, Japan - Summer Sonic Festival

October

Wed 17 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox

Thu 18 – Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom

Fri 19 – San Francisco, CA

Sat 20 – San Luis Obispo, CA – Fremont Theater

Mon 22 – Santa Fe, NM – Meow Wolf

Wed 24 – Salt Lake City, UT – Grand Room @ The Complex

Thu 25 – Aspen, CO – Belly Up

Fri 26 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre

Sat 27 – Boulder, CO – Boulder Theater

Mon 29 – Kansas City, MO – The Truman

Tue 31 – Iowa City, IA – The Englert Theater

November

Thu 01 – Minneapolis, MN

Fri 02 – Madison, WI

Sat 03 – Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre

Mon 05 – Toronto, CA – Sony Centre

Wed 07 – Portland, ME – The State Theatre

Thu 08 – Boston, MA – The Royale

Fri 09 – Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory

Sat 10 – Washington D.C. – Lincoln Theatre

Wed 14 – Richmond, VA – The National

Thu 15 – Raleigh, NC - The Ritz

Fri 16  – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works

Sat 17 – Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theatre