Los Angeles based saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Kamasi Washington is streaming his album in full on NPR First Listen. The young musicians debut album The Epic is unlike anything jazz has seen, and not just because it emanates from the boundary-defying Brainfeeder, which isn’t so much a label in the traditional sense as it is an unfurling experiment conducted by its owner and figurehead Flying Lotus who has featured Washington on his albums Cosmogramma andYou’re Dead!.

The Epic is a 172-minute, three-volume 17-track suite that boasts a 32-piece orchestra, a 20-person choir, and Washington’s long running 10-piece band The Next Step/The West Coast Get Down in the engine room.

“He just plays the craziest shit, man. I mean, everything — the past, present, the future,” says Flying Lotus, whose family lineage includes one of Washington’s direct musical forebears, John Coltrane. “What I am hearing is a leader among artists.”

Stream The Epic HERE

Tracklist

CD1
The Epic Vol.1: The Plan
1. Change of the Guard
2. Askim
3. Isabelle
4. Final Thought
5. The Next Step
6. The Rhythm Changes

CD2
The Epic Vol.2: The Glorious Tale
1. Miss Understanding
2. Leroy and Lanisha
3. Re Run
4. Seven Prayers
5. Henrietta Our Hero
6. The Magnificent 7

CD3
The Epic Vol.3: The Historic Repetition
1. Re Run Home
2. Cherokee
3. Clair de Lune
4. Malcolm’s Theme
5. The Message