Watch: Kamasi Washington – ‘Hub-Tones’

Kamasi Washington debuts the Jenn Nkiru-directed video for ‘Hub-Tones’ today, the track is taken from Washington’s massively acclaimed new album Heaven and Earth, released in June. Watch the video below!

“Hub-Tones is me trying to connect my ancestors via music,” says Washington. “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.”

Meanwhile, director Jenn Nkiru adds “With the visual for Hub-Tones, I wanted to invoke the immediate ecstatic connection it gave me: There’s a traditional ceremony called Oboni in the Ikwerre tribe, my parents’ tribe — the tribe of my heritage. The idea is through repetition, instrumentation and movement, to channel spirit, going deeper and deeper with the changing of each tone within the music till it becomes hypnotic and transcendent. I felt this level of immediate connection to Hub-Tones plus with this being a Freddie Hubbard cover and him being the king of tones in jazz it all felt so symbiotic and fated…”

Listen / purchase Heaven and Earth here.

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