MUSIC
KAMASI WASHINGTON ★★★★
Concert Hall, December 4
Kamasi Washington at the Concert Hall.Credit:Mikki Gomez
This was almost a controlled scientific experiment. The first jazz to grace the Opera House’s revamped Concert Hall was being played by the same octet instrumentation Kamasi Washington brought to the room in 2018.
On that occasion, the density and volume overwhelmed the old Concert Hall’s capacity to cope. This time, with all the acoustic improvements in place, the sonic punch came with significantly greater clarity.
Saxophonist Kamasi Washington.Credit:Mikki Gomez
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Washington’s band will challenge most venues, its two drummers creating dense thickets of sound around the leader’s tenor saxophone, the vocals, trombone, flute/soprano saxophone, keyboards and double bass. At first, it didn’t seem the room was going to rise to that challenge, with the bass and two bass drums sludgy and the tenor thin and trebly. But once the mix was sorted, we enjoyed long stretches where the sound was close to glorious.
And Washington likes shooting for glory in his material and performances; shooting for a sense of majesty, and this concert was far stronger than those on either of his previous Sydney visits.
