The Epic is the third studio album by American jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington and his first to be released on a record label. It was released on May 5, 2015, by the Brainfeeder record label.

Background Washington began assembling what would become his core musical collective, the West Coast Get Down, during his childhood in Los Angeles. He had known drummer Ronald Bruner Jr. since the age of three and grew up alongside many of the musicians who would later perform on The Epic. Washington is a graduate of the Academy of Music of Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles and later studied ethnomusicology at UCLA, where he played with faculty members including Kenny Burrell, Billy Higgins, and bandleader Gerald Wilson.

The album's genesis can be traced to Washington's reconnection with producer Steven Ellison, known as Flying Lotus, whom he had met in the mid-1990s when Ellison attended a John Coltrane competition won by Washington's first band. Flying Lotus, whose family lineage includes Alice Coltrane, offered Washington the opportunity to record an album for his boundary-defying Brainfeeder label. Washington was given creative freedom to pursue his vision.

In December 2011, Washington and his collective of musicians pooled their resources to rent out Kingsize Soundlabs in Los Angeles for a month-long recording session. The sessions were densely packed, with multiple musicians placed in the same rooms due to space constraints. The core band, sometimes called "The Next Step," included two bassists (Miles Mosley and Thundercat), two drummers (Ronald Bruner Jr. and Tony Austin), two keyboard players (Cameron Graves and Brandon Coleman), a horn section, and vocalist Patrice Quinn, who sang from the control room. The collective recorded prolifically, producing approximately 190 songs across eight different projects during the month, of which 45 were Washington's own compositions.

The 17 songs that would become The Epic were selected from this wealth of material and augmented with a 32-piece orchestra and a 20-person choir, for which Washington wrote the arrangements. Washington developed a narrative concept for the album inspired by a recurring dream he experienced while writing the string and choir parts, which he described to Flying Lotus when presenting the music. To Washington's surprise, Lotus readily accepted the ambitious triple-album format.

Critical reception

Upon its release, The Epic was widely celebrated by music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 83, which indicates "universal acclaim", based on 7 reviews. the AllMusic critic Thom Jurek described the album as "21st century jazz as accessible as it is virtuosic -- feel matters to Washington", and further wrote, "Holistic in breadth and deep in vision, it provides a way into this music for many, and challenges the cultural conversation about jazz without compromising or pandering." Russell Warfield of Drowned in Sound described the album as "wonderful stuff" and that the record "deserves a high score by any standards of evaluation".

The Guardian critic, John Fordham, who was positive in his assessment of the album, wrote, "Only a shortage of thematic surprises – given its extravagant length – keeps it from being quite the seismically jazz-changing departure that some admirers are claiming." Seth Colter Walls of Pitchfork awarded the album the "Best New Music" tag, writing, "The Epic actually makes good on its titular promise without bothering to make even a faint-hearted stab in the direction of fulfilling its pre-release hype."

Accolades Publication Accolade Year Rank The Best Albums of 2015 2015 Pitchfork The 50 Best Albums of 2015 2015 The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s 2019 Rough Trade Albums of the Year 2015 2015 Stereogum The 50 Best Albums of 2015 2015 Releases of the Year 1–50 2015 Rolling StoneThe 100 Best Albums of the 2010s201982

Track listing CD

Vinyl Triple LP track listing "A1. Change of the Guard" — 12:16 "A2. Isabelle" — 12:13 "A3. Final Thought" — 6:32 "B1. The Next Step" — 14:49 "B2. Askim" — 12:35

"A1. The Rhythm Changes" — 7:44 "A2. Leroy and Lanisha" — 9:24 "A3. Re Run" — 8:20 "B1. Miss Understanding" — 8:46 "B2. Henrietta Our Hero" — 7:14 "B3. Seven Prayers" — 7:36 "B4. Cherokee" — 8:14

"A1. The Magnificent 7" — 12:46 "A2. Re Run Home" — 14:06 "B1. Malcolm's Theme" — 8:41 "B2. Clair de Lune" — 11:08 "B3. The Message" — 11:09

Personnel

Credits adapted from vinyl liner notes.

Band Kamasi Washington – tenor saxophone, band leader, arrangement, production Thundercat – electric bass Miles Mosley – upright bass , electric bass Ronald Bruner Jr. – drums Tony Austin – drums , engineering Leon Mobley – percussion Cameron Graves – piano , organ Brandon Coleman – keyboards , organ , piano Ryan Porter – trombone Igmar Thomas – trumpet Dwight Trible – lead vocals Patrice Quinn – lead vocals

Additional musicians Robert Miller – drums Shaunte Palmer – trombone Todd Simon – trumpet

Ensemble – Neel Hammond – violin Tylana Renga Enomoto – violin Paul Cartwright – violin Jennifer Simone – violin Lucia Micarelli – violin Molly Rogers – viola Andrea Whitt – viola Artyom Manukyan – cello Ginger Murphy – cello Dawn Norfleet – choir vocals Thalma de Freitas – choir vocals Maiya Sykes – choir vocals Gina Manziello – choir vocals Patrice Quinn – choir vocals Natasha F. Agrama – choir vocals Dwight Trible – choir vocals Steven Wayne – choir vocals Taylor Graves – choir vocals Charles Jones – choir vocals Jason Marales – choir vocals Dexter Story – choir vocals Cameron Graves – choir vocals Tracy Carter – choir vocals Chris Constable – engineering

Technical Brian Rosemeyer – engineering Benjamin Tierney – mixing engineer Daddy Kev – mastering engineer

Charts Weekly charts Chart (2015)Peakposition

Year-end charts Chart (2016) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 145

Certifications

References

External links