Around the figure of Mucus Washington Many debates could be generated, especially if we compare it with references from the past. You know, defining whether it sounds more like the more spiritual John Coltrane or the more cosmic Pharoah Sanders. If we focus on the present, there is no doubt that he is the father of that new generation of jazz musicians, so restless and extremely revolutionary, who have renewed the genre. With the rich scenes of Los Angeles and London as the main photo, but applicable right now to any point on the globe. We find interesting proposals on every corner. Just take a look, for example, at the catalog of the International Anthem label to draw that sound map. With the advantage, of course, that in the current contemporary jazz scene there are no barriers. It is not in vain that jazz has boasted of being an open genre with a thousand ramifications. With consistency and an open mind, everything has a place. And there Mucus Washington He is the king.
One of the first samples of what this was hiding “Fearless Movement” was the presentation in society of “Prologue”, with an impressive video clip, with a dose of mystery, dance and a lot of social criticism. Pure creative ecstasy. A major exercise of his broad artistic vision. Perhaps that is why Kamasi has combined dense and incomprehensible works such as “The Epic” (the best and most influential jazz album of the 21st century?”) and that more serene complement that was “Heaven/Earth”with whimsical appetizers like the soundtrack of “Becoming”the Michelle Obama documentary, or that kind of EP that was “Harmony Of Difference”, in which it spoke of desire, humility, knowledge, perspective, integrity and truth (all song titles). In “Fearless Movement” He has found a fair point of measure, if that is possible with him. An album with endless nuances that extends for one hour and twenty-six minutes of music – below the almost three hours of the previous ones – in which the artist synthesizes his proposal.
Logically, we must begin by highlighting the overwhelming presence of guests in this “Fearless Movement”. There are many and very good ones, something that is not so strange in the world of jazz, in which there is a feeling of community that is associated with its DNA. For the occasion Kamasi has brought together, among others, Thundercat, Taj and Ras Austin, Patrice Quinn, DJ Battlecat, Brandon Coleman, Terrace Martin, George Clinton, D Smoke, André 3000 or BJ The Chicago Kid as musicians, and Cameron Graves, Ronald Bruner Jr, Tony Austin and Miles Mosley as producers. Together they let their creativity flow, they improvise and share their virtuosity, knowing at all times what album they are on and who they are playing for.
Kamasi’s fourth album combines pleasant pieces (“Dream State”the space “Interstellar Peace” o “Lines In The Sand” with that Blaxplotation air that explodes at the end) with other dance songs, with hip-hop breaking in as a disruptive element. So the artist can go from George Clinton’s trademark funk with rapper D Smoke in “Get Lit”an effective song but also the most predictable on the album, until the thirteen minutes of “Road To Self (KO)”, in which Kamasi brings out his entire arsenal in a piece with a frenetic, uncontrolled and hypnotic rhythm, taking his proposal to the beyond. As a curiosity, we will note that Kamasi’s own three-year-old daughter plays the piano in “Asha The First”.In short, an excellent album by one of the indispensable geniuses of modern jazz – or whatever he does – and a monumental cultural icon.