Composer and sax god Kamasi Washington turned in one behemoth opus with The Epic last year, and he’s at the forefront of a revitalized jazz movement because of it. He sat down with Marc Maron in Maron’s garage to talk about the album, and how a kid from Inglewood, CA (shouts to my hometown one time) found himself to be one of the biggest names in Jazz. Jazz musicians have a wonderful sense of tradition and homage to the godfathers and key players of their genre, and Washington’s knowledge runs deep, making for a great conversation.

Maron was also joined by former New York Times critic Ben Ratliff, who wrote exceptionally about jazz for quite some time. He and Ratliff talked about how to expand your music tastes and change listening habits you didn’t even know you had. I recommend his book Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen In An Age Of Musical Plenty. It’s fascinating.

Listen to the full episode here.