You wouldn’t expect a three-volume jazz album that clocks in at more than 170-minutes to be anywhere close to making the Guardian’s end of year list. But Kamasi Washington’s debut album, The Epic, wasn’t only massive in scale and scope, it also sounded unlike anything else released in 2015.

Its elevation beyond jazz’s usual confines and cul de sacs was no doubt down to a couple of things. The first being Washington’s connection to the Los Angeles beats scene through Flying Lotus and regular collaborator Thundercat, and the second his involvement in Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, for which he was hired to hone and sculpt the record with extra composing. A longtime sideman for Raphael Saadiq and Erykah Badu, Washington’s transition to centre stage has seemed completely natural. From the cover (Washington stood with sax in hand superimposed over two planets) to the three volume release and name, nothing about The Epic suggested insecurity or understatement.

3 x black 180g 12" in artworked 3mm spined sleeves all housed in a rigid board outer slipcase.
Half speed cut by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering.
Includes 2 x 12" poster inserts featuring exclusive artwork by KC Woolf Haxton and story adaptation and calligraphy by Kenturah Davis
Download MP3 Code sticker on sleeve of Volume 1 - The Plan
Black sticker on shrink wrap (front)
White BC sticker on shrink wrap (rear)