Beside The Spiral Staircase

Kamasi Washington “Humility”

All of the songs on Kamasi Washington’s new record are named for virtues, but it’s funny to me that this one is called “Humility” when it’s so grandiose and swaggering. It sounds expensive somehow, as though Washington’s main saxophone hook was made of elegant golden spirals. Cameron Graves’ piano part contrasts this with a wild, trebly blast of notes that seem to bounce and ricochet off the rhythm. This is a very busy piece of music, but despite all the clatter the emphasis is always placed on the melody, and the composition essentially clicks together like a pop song. This is perhaps Washington’s greatest gift as a composer – to be heavily indebted to decades worth of jazz history, but for that context to not matter so much in how the music is actually heard.

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