Well, hello lovers of music and culture. We are Under the Stars, a quasi-weekly column that stays on message with strong-ass opinions, presenting new music releases, upcoming shows, and other adjacent items.
KAMASI WASHINGTON, SAT/15 AT GOLDEN GATE THEATER
Buckle up! Kamasi Washington’s kind of a supernova. One that dazzles numerous crowds at once without shedding one milliliter of the blazing output. He didn’t just rebrand what was expected of contemporary jazz players; he sent sax players back into the woodshed to sharpen that competitive blade. Would we hear the likes of Lakecia Benjamin’s tropical storm of funk and R&B infused into the traditional idiom—or witness the proto-punk metal-jazz heat of James Brandon Lewis—without Washington’s singular tenor sax oeuvre? Nah. Kamasi upped the ante by crafting majestic narratives, and these young lions, uber-talented contemporaries, heard the charge and responded in kind.
Washington’s 2015 breakthrough The Epic arrived three months after the Grammy-winning cultural and musical juggernaut To Pimp a Butterfly from LA-based, Pulitzer prize-winning emcee Kendrick Lamar—someone nobody in their right mind might choose to enter a diss-track battle with. That album featured Washington and many of his band members, and, to a large degree, the entire Los Angeles Black music ecosystem—electronic, soul, hip-hop, jazz, funk, what have you.
The Epic? A hit. It spoke loudly and directly to us and all those who correspond. Washington’s enigmatic, accessible, and three-plus hour runtime of a monumental release challenged everybody’s ears—jazzbos and non-jazz music heads alike. But an additional fanbase got built-in from K.Dot’s opus. The Epic would have blown up anyway, with its construct of making a middle lane between avant-garde and spiritual jazz. Still, the hip-hop record of the year—some would also say of the decade—gave Washington’s release those extra legs and a significant cultural boost.
Ten years later, Kamasi Washington returns to SF JAZZ at the Golden Gate Theater. Beyond being just a well-known musician and bandleader, he’s a generational figure. He can walk into a room with Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, and 9th Wonder, make jokes, and then compose. Or assemble a soundtrack that reflects Michele Obama’s rise to prominence, and then cover a Metallica song.
What can you expect from Washington live? Just like Charlie Parker and John Coltrane used to elongate, riff, and write new compositions based on standards or show tunes–things in their cultural zeitgeist—Kamasi will unleash the Kraken’s worth of his touch points. One moment, it could be a chorus from Parliament Funkadelics’ “Flashlight,” or the latter part of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” updated, recontextualized, aggressive, in an eager sort of way.
Kamasi Washington is not the next so and so, he’s here. Get tickets NOW.
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SESSA, PEQUENA VERTIGEM DE AMOR (MEXICAN SUMMER)
São Paulo’s Sessa is obviously an artist, I need more of in my life. His third album here, Pequena Vertigem de Amor, which translates to “li’l love vertigo,” is a head-exploding, mind-altering moment inspired by the music of Sly Stone and Shuggy Otis.
Funk and strings, people. Leisurely, moody acoustic guitars playing in the breeze, with flute arrangements swingin’, hangin’ out in the background. I’m told by experts that música popular brasileira (MPB) and Afro-Brazilian percussion, blended into this aerospace of romantic chill, is where Sessa lives artistically. But this is my first time absorbing these orbits…..And those stars remain winking, on and off, like a code far and up away.
Now that you know what Sessa is reheating, try, if you can, to lock in on the many tiny details that expand out into such vivid colors, we’re talking deep-shag carpet feels. This bossa nova in the now moment, as explained in the comments section on YouTube (fans keep it real there, always), lines up rich atmospherics with just gobsmacking idyllic charts that go beyond what you would expect from a trad Brazilian folk-jazz album.
Fans call his music neo-tropicália? And it lingers beautifully in some ’70s lush folky-soul way, infusing bits of mid-’70s Joni Mitchell atmospherics. They slowly develop like an old Polaroid Instamatic picture.
Buy this special record here. Sessa is playing at Rickshaw in March of next year, but reserve your tickets now, it’s going to sell out, I guarantee. Grab them here.
PARK SHADOW, “ALTITUDEZ” EP ( METALHEADZ)
When drum and bass is created with passion, it showcases care, vision, and compelling storytelling. These narratives come alive when bass tones have a unique swing and take deep drops that could make Jacques Cousteau envious. It’s the epitome of high-quality production.
Finnish veteran Park Shadow arrives on the renowned Metalheadz label to remind everyone that this type of bass music isn’t just meant as background music for “baller”-style nightlife fantasies on Instagram. Oh no. There are levels.
The Altitudez EP serves as a consistent thread connecting various styles of drum and bass.
This is art, Jack. It allows dnb heads to engage closer, without cheap trickery. Park is here for the deep and attentive listener. Across four intricately crafted songs, this project encourages a more immersive experience. Shadow is sculpting sound, keeping the bass tones dark and ominous, while tech-step runs rampant through soundscapes filled with detailed vocal coos. Sharp snare hits keep your ears engaged, and digital scattering of bleeps and dots move and dance with a half-time grace.
Shadow builds and builds on a rhythmic foundation that’ll keep you swaying all night, sipping bottled water, because it’s the production that’s elevating your mental. It’s Metalheadz, for the win again. This project is worth digging around in the Electronic music section at Amoeba for. Grab info here.
ALICE COLTRANE TURIYASANGITANANDA, “DIVINE OFFERING: CELEBRATING THE LEGACY WITH SITA MICHELLE COLTRANE,” NOVEMBER 21 AT THE FREIGHT
It is impossible not to see that legacy and that connection, that spiritedness in 21st-century energy music, and not relate it to the Coltrane name. Binker and Moses, jaime branch, Irreversible Entanglements, James Brandon Lewis, Kamasi Washington, Brandee Younger—these are just a few who come under its umbrella. Still, they specifically carry out and extend this legacy in contemporary times. Sure, I’ve copped clean Alice Coltrane joints, Ptah, the El Daoud; Huntington Ashram Monastery; and World Galaxy, at freaky Marin City flea markets back in the day.
I paid five bucks a pop for those vinyl treasures at the time, a bargain. They assured us all: Nobody can do what Alice Coltrane does.
On her 1972 jazz-fusion, psychedelic rock, radical symphonic document World Galaxy, we get a master class in composition and execution. Sure, the floating bells, strings, and bass on “Galaxy in Turyia” made Carlos Santana proclaim it the song he would like played at his funeral. But let us not mince words. Her renditions of “My Favorite Things” and “A Love Supreme,” both cultural signposts by her late husband John Coltrane, are otherworldly. With “Things,” she writes the string charts, which fluctuate from cheerful major to uncluttered minor, to act as an avatar of light. While on the mighty Wurlitzer, she rips aggressive energy about like a wet towel, smacking up dense vibrations.
On “A Love Supreme”, after her Guru Swami Satchidananda dispels the virtues of love in an engaging tone, she flips the construct. Alice Coltrane takes hold of that 1971 Wurlitzer 805 Centura Organ, with the pitch-bending ability, and moves the composition from funk to hip-hop through fusion by way of volcanic psychedelic punk. At one point, her left and right hands are speaking in tongues with one another while drummer Ben Riley holds on for dear life. Once out of the shamanic trance, Coltrane gives the lead over to Frank Lowe on sax, who quickly renders it to Leroy Jenkins on violin for some abstract blues meanderings. Call it a wrestling of emotions, a conjuring of spirits, or just an intentional deconstruction of the version made famous by Mr. Coltrane. The fact remains. Nobody can do what Alice Coltrane does.
If you are enamoured by this heavyweight composer, you should attend this special performance at The Freight that is part of the John & Alice Coltrane Home’s Year of Alice project, celebrating the life and legacy of Alice Coltrane.
It features Michelle Coltrane (vocals), Lisa E. Harris (vocals), Arianna Gouveia (vocals), Shea Welsh (guitar), Tateng Katindig (piano), Brian Juarez (bass), Deszon Claiborne (drums), Tristan Harrison Cappel (saxophone/flute), and Destiny Muhammed (harp), all led by Sita Michelle Coltrane—artistic director, vocalist, composer and daughter of Alice. More info here.
FAKE YOUR OWN DEATH, “HAVANA SYNDROME“
Observations remain key before a band showcase in a local Mission dive. Keep yer eyeslits dialed.
Fake Your Own Death, the San Francisco post-punk and noise rock ensemble, took the 7pm stage at Noise Pop’s Bender’s Bar Happy Hour this past February with the kind of veteran resolve that quietly mumbles, “Maybe you overlooked us, buddy.” In about a 30-minute set, they had the entire patronage jumping, kicking, pushing in on the rumble, reacting to the irresistible melodies, and hanging on to every no-wave reference.
My friend Shelly was taken by the look of the lead singer, Terry Ashkinos, before they performed; meanwhile, I was concentrating on the free merch situation happening on the pool table. You can never have enough record tote bags, beer koozies, or stickers representing things you have no idea about. I figured I’ll lock in when the bands start “sanging.”
Obviously, my friend and the great rock scribe Greil Marcus had the same idea. According to his review of the band, he too immediately noticed Ashkinos in the crowd before the show got started: “a middle-aged, gray-haired man of medium height and thick build, which is to say no obvious reason to notice him at all. It was the way he carried himself—determined, hurried, as if he had some task to accomplish, some responsibility for the night ahead, like making sure the lighting was right or the restroom clean.” Mmkay, that’s about right.
FYOD has a new single out, “Havana Syndrome,” that sounds like one of those new-fangled jingle-jangle, modern rock songs. You know, with the catchy melodic hooks, but polished, solid. Power pop that’s movin’ asses at a Popscene show, and you think while heading out, Ddamn, I just saw some band that’s going to be selling out Bill Graham’s Auditorium in 10 years.”
Popscene has made a career of that with their intuitive booking ever since their salad days at The Cat Club in ’95. Shout out to Mod Lang, for sure.
Yeah, FYOD? Compared to Fontaines DC, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Sonic Youth, for a reason, bub. Catch ’em before they are too big for Benders, and Terry Ashkinos isn’t just looking like a rock star. They have a release party happening on December 2 at the Make Out Room. Stay updated on that here and grab the single here.
LOLO ZOUAÏ, “3AM IN SAN FRANCISCO”
I recently discovered the Paris-born, San Francisco-raised artist Lolo Zouaï. She has been living in New York for a couple of years now, like many people these days. Her track and video, “3AM in San Francisco,” captures the essence of North Beach and Chinatown beautifully. Zouaï effortlessly switches between English and French in her music. She describes the song as “the start of a dream… we all know only good things happen after 3am.” I would argue that it really depends on how early you have to get up in the morning, but… well, sure!
More info here.
