Early this summer, contemporary jazz torch-bearer Kamasi Washington released his new double album, Heaven And Earth, marking Washington’s first release since his 2017 audiovisual concept EP Harmony of Difference and his first full-length effort since his aptly named 2015 effort, The Epic. On the new album, Washington pushes the boundaries of contemporary jazz and inserts African culture as the epicenter of the album’s character.

As Kamasi explained when he announced the release of Heaven And Earth:

The world that my mind lives in, lives in my mind. This idea inspired me to make this album. The “Earth” side [tracks 1–8] represents the world as I see it outwardly, the world that I am a part of. The “Heaven” side [tracks 9-16] represents the world as I see it inwardly, the world that is a part of me.

In promotion of the album, Kamasi shared a number of visual clips, including a pair of one-minute videos that help elicit the celestial beauty of Heaven (“The Space Travelers Lullaby”) and the stark human urgency of Earth (“Fists of Fury”) and a full music video for Street Fighter-inspired single “Street Fighter Mas”.

Today, Kamasi Washington has released the latest music video from Heaven and Earth, “Hub-Tones”, which you can watch below:

Kamasi Washington – “Hub-Tones”

[Video: Kamasi Washington]

As NPR Notes,

“Hub-Tones” is Kamasi Washington’s modern take on the title track from trumpeter Freddie Hubbard‘s 1963 album. A prolific musician, bandleader and composer, Hubbard worked with some of the most talented jazz players of his era — John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock and James Spaulding, to name a few. He made large contributions to the continued relevancy of modern jazz and bebop. Washington carries the torch of Hubbard’s legacy by drawing on his familial roots, which adds a new energy and urgency to the classic song.

In a video clip about the track, Washington explains, “As an African-American, a lot of us don’t know the country of our origin — that’s why most of us take on the ideology of Pan-Africanism. I was trying to connect to my ancestors by connecting African rhythms with a Freddie Hubbard tune, which gave me that connection in a different way.”


You can listen to Heaven And Earth in its entirety below via Spotify:

Kamasi Washington – Heaven And Earth – Full Album