HARMONY OF DIFFERENCE | KAMASI WASHINGTON

10.1.17 Right on par with 2015s mega effort epic scale The Epic (#705), Harmony of Different flows seamlessly between styles of jazz. Unlike The Epic, which I think is 3 weeks long, Harmony is but a mere EP. Don’t let that shake you aficionados, the themes here are beautifully composed with sophisticated uplifting moments. Though there is not as much time to let the solos really evolve.

It seems this session has lot of the same collaborators from The Epic, including Thundercat, or Stephen Bruner (see Drunk below) The most moving piece is the closing track “Truth”. At 13:30 it's much longer than the others and the righteous 8 person choir that was throughout The Epic shows up at midpoint. At the end of "Truth" I felt as if I had just watched a brilliant nostalgic Hollywood masterpiece from the golden eras (include the 70s).

Though Coltrane is definitely a big influence, Washington's tone might be more raw and aligned with Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders and Albert Ayler.