TRACK REVIEW: Kamasi Washington - Fashion Then and Now

TRACK REVIEW:

Kamasi Washington

PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Fink

Fashion Then and Now

9.6/10

The track, Fashion Then and Now, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQceRYhdvFA

The album, Becoming (Music from the Netflix Original Documentary), is out now. Stream it here:

https://open.spotify.com/album/03ZDW1rnnecmoDBmRXt3A1?si=zdG-DiGqRyiImktODP9DRA

RELEASE DATE:

15th May, 2020

GENRE:

Jazz

ORIGIN:

Los Angeles, U.S.A.

LABEL:

Shoto Mas Inc.

__________

I have not done a review for a while…

and it is good to come back to them. This is going to be a little different to other reviews because, as you will hear from the song I am featuring, it is instrumental. Kamasi Washington is one of the finest Jazz musicians in the world, and he has contributed music for Becoming (Music from the Netflix Original Documentary). I will mention that later and its ties to Michelle Obama, but I wanted to concentrate on Washington as being this great Jazz pioneer. We get this impression – or many of us do – of Jazz being rather old-school and static; never really engaging people or having real flow. I guess there is some Jazz that is quite dry and hard to bond with but, over the years, the genre has diversified and expanded. Right now, there are groups like The Comet Is Coming and Melt Yourself Down who are taking Jazz in new directions. There is so much variation and excitement to be found; music that is as memorable and accomplished as any other. Kamasi Washington has been putting albums out for a while, and I think he is at the forefront of modern Jazz. When he put out his Heaven and Earth album out a couple of years ago, I think that is when the crown was firmly placed on his head. It is a remarkable album of two different halves: almost cinematic in its scope, power, and transcendental aura. It is a remarkable work, and a lot of people were eager to speak with him and learn more about this striking figurehead. The Guardian caught up with Washington and shed more light on a titan musician:

“For now, however, Washington is the man credited with leading a jazz revival in the past few years, usually in a dashiki tunic and an array of medallions. He was one of the leading instrumentalists who contributed to Kendrick Lamar’s landmark album To Pimp a Butterfly in 2015, which helped bring contemporary jazz to a new audience. Washington’s own debut, a triple-disc album fittingly called The Epic, swiftly followed, continuing Lamar’s themes of black American identity and leading one critic to write that Washington is “the jazz voice of Black Lives Matter”. He’s also been called a jazz celebrity, who has the star power to launch an EP with an installation at a venerable museum (last year’s Harmony of Difference, at the Whitney in New York).

Washington grew up in South Central Los Angeles, which after the 1992 riots became a shorthand for “ghetto”. His mother is a science teacher, his father a music teacher, and he started playing sax at 13 (his dad also plays flute in his son’s touring band). Washington and Ronald Bruner Jr – one of his two drummers and the brother of bassist/songwriter/vocalist Thundercat – would call each other on the phone to boast about how much they’d each practised that day. “There’s a sense of urgency that you get growing up where we grew up,” says Washington. “I hate to talk about it in that sense because it’s a really beautiful place but there’s pressure to become a gangster, or to be poor.”

Music, he says, was “one of the paths to success that you feel you have access to in my neighbourhood. Because it doesn’t always feel like you have access to all of them. When you find something that you’re good at, you definitely have a motivation to become great at it, because that’s your way to overcome these stereotypes.” A tight sense of community and a vibrant local music scene was influential, too. At the same time as listening to west coast hip-hop, Washington was hanging out in Leimert Park, a largely African area of LA, which is home to the nonprofit performing arts club World Stage, where he first saw Sanders play.

His music, he says, can’t help but be politically charged “because I’m living on this earth. I don’t know how you can live on this planet, with all the information that is so readily accessible, and not be concerned with what people are doing. I feel like we’re at a crossroads where society’s going to choose to either go in a direction that’s going to lead to the world being a more universally fair place, or less, or it’s going to go backwards, to what we did in the past. Society’s pushing towards this idea of fairness, love and compassion. But then we have, you know, Trump and Brexit. As musicians we have one of the greatest tools of bringing people together in music. So, I wouldn’t say [it’s a] responsibility but we have an opportunity to sway things one way or the other, you know?”

PHOTO CREDIT: Nina Cocoran

It is interesting to see how Jazz has evolved through the years. From the 1980s and 1990s, Hip Hop and Rap artists were splicing Jazz into their music - bringing it to a new audience whilst keeping it authentic. Kendrick Lamar is an artist who has managed to take Jazz in a new direction and seamlessly fuse it into a Rap setting. Similarly, Kamasi Washington has done something as remarkable with Jazz. A lot of Jazz artists have their signature sound and it can be rather restrictive. Washington is this astonishing creator who has built his own universe of sound. He can summon something biblical and hugely evocative one song, and then have a very calming and spiritual number the next. He truly is a pioneer and someone who is transforming West Coast Jazz. Stereogum spoke with Washington regarding his experiences with the Los Angeles Jazz scene and him, debatably (in 2018), being at the forefront of the vanguard:

“STEREOGUM: When people point to you as the leader of the West Coast jazz revival, is that a role that you’re willing to step into?

WASHINGTON: I look at it like it’s the reality we always knew. People didn’t know about the scene we had out here in LA. I look at it more like a resurgence than a discovery. It’s always been here cracking. The world just didn’t know about it. I’m definitely happy to be able to be part of a lineage that I really believe in. I look at it like that.

The idea of who the leader is — music is self-expression. Jazz in particular is a collective activity. Each person is expressing themselves to have it become something bigger. I appreciate being considered an important part of a lineage that I really believe in, and beyond that I don’t get too caught up in whatever title or praise someone gives out. I appreciate them engaging with my work, but I look at it like “People are going to say this, they’re going to say that.” Let them talk. I’m just going to keep the lineage going”.

I will move on to the actual review itself soon, but I am trying to encourage more people to give modern Jazz a try. So many turn their noses up at the mere mention of Jazz; assuming that it is indigestible and lacks any appeal. Maybe it is the fact that Jazz is largely instrumental and has truly little vocalisation that people are reticent to embrace it. There is something in Jazz that means, even in 2020, it is on the fringes of the mainstream. There are artists combing Jazz with other genres, trying to provide crossover allure and take it to new places. Kamasi Washington’s music, I feel, has a soulfulness and cinematic vision that makes it impossible to resist! Jazz has moved on vastly since the 1940s and 1950s, and it would be naïve to think that there is very little of interest to be found. Kamasi Washington spoke with High Snobiety a while back, and he was asked about the changing shape of Jazz:

“What has your experience been like creating jazz music in this era? I feel like the history of jazz is still ongoing, but it’s interesting to sort of see this shift.

I think that jazz, it covers such a wide range. Over the years, it’s such a inclusive idea, improvisation and expression and group expression. That’s what really makes jazz what it is. I can’t really relegate it to any particular musical device or rhythm or chord or instrumentation. It’s really that sense of freedom that really makes something feel like jazz. To me, funk is jazz, it’s just a different word for it. Even rock-and-roll and a lot of these other things, we have a different name for them, and I get why we have a different name, but I think that’s what happened with jazz. People took that idea and brought it over to other styles of music.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mary King

I grew up in a household where it was all over my house, my friends had no idea who any of these people were. I was in elementary school when I got into Art Blakey and going to school and showing my friends. What got me into jazz too was when I started to recognize some of the samples in certain records. There was this one Tribe Called Quest sample, I remember showing them that that Tribe Called Quest song that we like is actually Art Blakey… It’s just exposure. You rarely meet someone who’s like, “Yeah, I used to really be into jazz, but I don’t like it anymore.” It’s one of those things that people, when they say they’re not into it, it’s usually because they just haven’t heard it”.

I want to stay on the subject of Washington being a leader and advocate of modern Jazz for a little bit longer. I have not even mentioned Thundercat: another extraordinary Jazz artist who blends his soulful voice (and that of collaborators) into the mix. In a way, Kamasi Washington is this father figure for modern Jazz who is inspiring so many other artists to be bold and step forward. When he spoke with Rolling Stone last year, Washington was asked about his position about Jazz’s rise and sustainability:

“People like yourself, Esperanza Spalding, Thundercat, Trombone Shorty are keeping jazz alive and sort of reviving it. Do you see yourself as a torchbearer for the genre?

Yeah, I know that I am. Genres are an interesting thing. I feel like music is more personal than genre sometimes represents. In the end each musician really represents themselves. They represent their work. You listen to Freddie Hubbard; you wouldn’t say that he represents John Coltrane. John Coltrane represents John Coltrane. Freddie Hubbard represents Freddie Hubbard. The Beatles represent The Beatles and the Rolling Stones represent the Rolling Stones. With that people are also very connected. So genres are like that connection.

PHOTO CREDIT: Bryan Luna/High Snobiety

To me, jazz genre is so wide and so many avenues, but yeah the idea of being a torchbearer is good. I feel like we’re bringing people back to that genre, bringing people to a place where they are open to that music. It felt like for a while people had become closed to it, so in that sense a torch like how a fire brings moths, we bring people to the music. People like myself, Esperanza, Terence Martin, Thundercat. We’re all bringing people to this music and once they start their journey they will eventually find all these other beautiful gems of this music”.

I am keen to mention this brilliant soundtrack that has just come out and take a glimpse at another magnificent Kamasi Washington chapter. One of the defining features of Washington’s music, I feel, is a sense of optimism and joy. Even when his songs are in a lower key and seem more haunted, I do think there is a sense of hope and light that emerges. Maybe I am over-reaching, but one reason why some are hesitant to explore Jazz is the assumption it is a bit gloomy and heavy. There are Jazz artists whose style and sound is a bit hard-going, but I feel Jazz is such an eclectic genre, one can find plenty of sunshine and energy. Against a world that is more confused and divided, Kamasi Washington is a preacher of something more hopeful and optimistic. In this GQ interview, Washington discussed his approach to bringing light into a dark world:

“There's perseverance, optimism, and discovery in your music. As the world seems to grow messier and messier, how do you hold onto those hopeful ideas?
If you look at the world as being like a mountain, most people focus on the tip of the mountain. But the mountain itself is really more the base. And I find in my travels, the base part, the masses, it's very encouraging. I meet so many amazing people, people who really want the world to be a beautiful place. And you can feel it in their energy. And then, of course, I see the actions of those people who seem to be in power, and sometimes it's really discouraging. But it's more of a balance of the two that keeps me wanting to do what I do.

PHOTO CREDIT: Kayla Reefer

There's hope in the fact that I meet so many amazing people. And there's a job to be done because there's so many problems. It's kind of like the relationship between "Fists of Fury" and "Space Travelers Lullaby." The relationship between never-ending struggle and endless potential. And that struggle is where my mind exists. I see both. It's about managing those two things. Part of what makes us good is what makes us bad, and what makes us bad is what makes us good. It's just about having a balance”.

The latest revelation from the stunning Washington is, perhaps, among his finest work. I have been following his music a while, and there have been improvements and developments since 2007’s The Proclamation; a leap even from 2015’s The Epic. Perhaps it is natural growth and curiosity, but I think Washington, as time progresses, becomes more immersed with the world around him and the potential of music. I am not sure how to describe it, but his ambition has grown, and his sense of confidence has exploded. From the wide-ranging and widescreen Heaven and Earth in 2018, he has now produced this documentary score that is very different to anything he has done before; more restrained in some ways but no less stunning and revealing. I want to bring in an interview from Stereogum from a couple of years back (when he was promoting Heaven and Earth); Washington was asked about his ever-changing sound:

“STEREOGUM: You played with form in a few different ways on your last couple offerings. The Epic was vast, grand, sweeping. Harmony Of Difference was more compact. Heaven And Earth feels like a marriage of the two. There are some tracks that you extend out and others are very concise with a big impact. How did it end up being the length it is as a final product?

WASHINGTON: The music dictates that for itself. At the time of The Epic, as a core band, we were all spending so much time apart making music for other people that by the time we got together — even though we grew up together and there’s a special connection we have — it was like a rare privilege to come together. We used say it was like when the planets align that we would be in the same room together at the same time. When you listen to The Epic you really hear us reaching for each other. The music reflects that.

I started Heaven And Earth before Harmony Of Difference, but it just took me a while to finish it. Both of these records, we’ve been playing together. We’ve been touring together almost every day. We’re like this [interlocks fingers], instead of reaching for each other. So the music turned out to be much more compact because it’s more immediate. As soon as I think something, everybody’s there. So the music and where we were as a band dictated how long the album is. The song is either as long or as short as it needs to be, and that’s it really. One of the things I did learn from The Epic was that we don’t have to feel so much pressure to conform to set formats. A song doesn’t have to be three minutes and 30 seconds”.

Okay, then. I have talked a lot about Kamasi Washington’s past and how he has helped push Jazz to new heights. Although it might be a while until Jazz is fully embraced and recognised in the mainstream, people like Washington are incredibly important in proffering the brilliance of Jazz. Becoming is available on Netflix, and it follows the former First Lady Michelle Obama, and it gives us this intimate insight into a remarkable human and her hopes and dreams. Coming up with the music for Becoming is a tough ask, given the gravitas and popularity of Obama. This Rolling Stone feature looked at the rise and rise of Kamasi Washington – the man himself talked about the recording process and aspects of the score/soundtrack:

“During the past few years, Kamasi Washington has found himself in places a jazz musician never would have expected to be. With the release of his aptly named 2015 triple LP, The Epic, the L.A. saxophonist and bandleader was deemed the genre’s next big thing. So there he was, in the studio with Kendrick Lamar and St. Vincent, or sharing a bill with Lamar and D’Angelo at a festival in Australia. Not to mention the time Herbie Hancock previewed some of his upcoming album for Washington. “He was like, ‘Check this one out,’ ” Washington says. “To have Herbie Hancock press ‘play’ for me is the type of thing that went beyond the dreams I ever had as a kid.”

This year marks another didn’t-see-that-coming milestone for Washington. The 39-year-old wrote and, with his band, performed the score for Becoming, the Michelle Obama documentary currently airing on Netflix. The soundtrack, out today, is another musical change-up for Washington. Coming after ambitious, genre-stuffed undertakings like The Epic and 2018’s Heaven and Earth, the 15 brief tracks on Becoming take in meditative piano pieces, rhythmic rumble, and light, breezy themes that recall Seventies orchestral disco.

The work itself turned out to be far more intense than he’d imagined. Washington had only a few short weeks to compose and record the music, which he began writing while on a jazz cruise in January. For starters, Washington scanned the Obamas’ individual playlists to get a sense of what music they gravitated toward. “They like a certain kind of Motown-ish soul and R&B,” he says. “It’s hard to put into words, but there was a feel I could hear in the music they’re into.”

In the course of those few weeks, Washington conceived interludes that played off that sense of their taste, along with the moods of particular scenes. “Song for Fraser,” which accompanies reflections on Michelle Obama’s deceased father, is pensive and pretty. “Provocation,” heard in the segment of Becoming that addresses the often racist backlash to Barack’s election, is dark and brooding. “The idea that a person will hate you because of the way you look, that’s a harsh reality, so that piece is meant to be reflective of the thoughts behind that kind of thinking,” he says. “That’s why I put a contrapuntal movement in it. As an African American you read about and see those things, and they cause a rush of all kinds of thoughts”.

I would urge people to listen to the score, as it is a fantastic piece of work, and one does not need to see the documentary to feel this connection to Michelle Obama and how it beautifully explores this inspiring human – though, of course, you should watch Becoming! I do not think I could do justice to the whole album by writing a little bit on each track so, whilst you definitely need to stream the album, I have selected a song and will go into more details: the tremendous Fashion Then and Now is the gem I have selected.

PHOTO CREDIT: Awol Erizku for The New York Times

Fashion Then and Then is one of the shorter tracks on Becoming (running in at 2:14), but I think it is one of the most beautiful. Having not watched the documentary the whole way through yet, I am not able to contextualise the song and explain the scene it appears in. I think this is an advantage, as I am assessing the song as a standalone piece and the impressions that I get from it. Knowing a bit about Michelle Obama, I can only imagine how interesting it would have been for Kamasi Washington to write music for her, as it were, and document these multiple sides. Obama is a fierce fighter for human rights and quality; she is a wonderful politician and role model for everyone around the world. She is also this politician who has this undeniable sense of cool and relatability. Although she, alongside Barack Obama, resides in The White House, she had that common touch and was (and is) able to connect with people of all walks of life. On the other side of things, there is this elegance and class that she exudes. It is rare to find a person who can communicate and resonate with voters around the U.S. but project this rarefied imagine; someone who balances class and sophistication with passion and a blue-collar work ethic. For that reason, I wanted to review Fashion Then and Now, as I got images of this amazing figure who dazzles and impresses with her style and image, but she also gets into the heart and mind due to the way she speaks and the compassion for she has for the people. The track begins with this gorgeous and tender piano that is dripping in beauty and wonder. It is so seductive and soft, that one is helpless to resist its moonlight charms. Rather than seeing this song as a representation of Michelle Obama: a style icon, I think it is more general. I instantly imagined Michelle Obama in a more intimate setting.

As this article explains, Washington was honoured to write the score for Becoming:

“In a press release, Washington explained how much working on the documentary meant to him, noting that the Obamas had an “impact” that’s “hard to put into words.”

“It was such a pleasure and honor to work on Becoming. Michelle Obama is such an amazing person and this film gives a very unique insight to who she is, how she thinks, and the way she navigates the world. It’s truly inspiring to see! Working with the film’s incredible director Nadia Hallgren to create a musical palette to support this amazing piece was truly a blessing. I’m so thankful to her for the opportunity to be a part of this. Barack and Michelle Obama’s time as President and First Lady had an impact on the history of this country and the world that is hard to put into words, but both Michelle Obama’s book and Nadia Hallgren’s film do an amazing job of it!”

I adore the different elements to the track and how the horns come in and provide these lower, more breathy notes aside the piano. One closes their eyes and drifts into the song. Everyone will have their own projection, but I was thinking of Obama in the evening, maybe attending an event and looking radiant and incredible. As I say, I have not seen where the song fits into the documentary, but I think Fashion Then and Now stands tall on its own and is this absolutely wonderful song. Guitar and piano notes weave in and out of one another. The piano becomes accelerated and more erratic; changing from this touching and soft coda to a more flowing and vibrant sound. The composition never becomes too crowded or intense. Instead, it is beautifully detailed, and everything flows and hangs together perfectly. With some subtle twang of guitar and elegant piano keys that give this sort of lullaby, swaying quality, there is another layer of piano that is fast and heady. The blend of all of these components is addictive and wonderous. I have listened to the track over and over, and it reveals something new every time. I will have to watch the Becoming documentary and witness the song in that setting, but I think all the tracks on the soundtrack/score work brilliantly on their own and have their own identity. When you listen to the album as a whole, you do get this bigger picture and closer look at the hugely loved and influential Michelle Obama. Fashion Then and Now is a magnificent song and it is amazing how diverse and consistent Kamasi Washington truly is.

Kamasi Washington is in lockdown in the U.S., and I know – as he spoke with BBC Radio 6 Music’s Matt Everitt last week – he is writing new music and keeping busy. It is odd for him, as he has not spent this amount of time not performing and being with a band. It will be interesting to see whether lockdown inspires a new album. I have heard songs and albums from artists in lockdown, and it is remarkable how complete they sound – not to be condescending! I do wonder what a lockdown Kamasi Washington song or album will sound like. Of course, the man himself will not be touring for a while, but I would say to people to follow him on social media – the links are at the bottom of this review – and keep abreast of the latest developments. Also, listen back to Kamasi Washington’s albums and immerse yourself in the magic only he can provide! I love a fantastic score or soundtrack, as it provokes feelings and emotions in me that a studio album does not. Maybe it is that very tangible and evident connection between film and music that brings something different from the songs. I have listened to the Becoming score before watching the documentary, and I will now go and watch the documentary and experience the music in that form. I will wrap things up here, but it has been wonderful listening to the Becoming score and experiencing the brilliant music of Kamasi Washington once more. I think he is one of the most astonishing artists we have in our midst and I (and many others) look forward to seeing where he heads next. It (the score) just goes to show that, far from being boring and insignificant, Jazz music today is very much…