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Natural Information Society: Since Time is Gravity
by Danen Jobe
The concept of trance is one of the oldest in the world. Many older music forms embraced trance for their rituals. One is the Gnawa musical tradition originating in Kano, Nigeria and Morocco, which uses double and triple notes repeated sometimes for hours to induce a religious state while the singer sings stories of spirits. It is played on a gimbri (aka sintir or hajhuj), a three stringed instrument featuring one short and two long goat gut strings over a ...
read moreJeff Parker: Slight Freedom
by Dave Wayne
One is tempted to think of Jeff Parker as the first guitar anti-hero. He's a subtle player, first and foremost, not given to showy pyrotechnics and rapid-fire flights of plectral fancy. His chameleonic, almost self-effacing, presence on recordings by Tortoise, Joey DeFrancesco, Isotope 217, Fred Anderson, the Brian Blade Fellowship, Peter Erskine, Nicole Mitchell, Yo La Tengo, Hamid Drake, Joshua Redman, Scott Amendola, George Lewis and countless others is startling for its sheer stylistic diversity. Yet, Parker, unlike pretty much ...
read moreKhan Jamal - Human Arts Ensemble: Drumdance to the Motherland
by Francis Lo Kee
This is a re-release of a record that came out on the independent Philadelphia-based record label, Dogtown (slang for the Germantown section of Philadelphia where many of the city's musicians lived). It is a unique a view into an under-recognized musician and an important period in creative music. Besides being a composer and improvising vibraphonist (among other instruments), Khan Jamal is a sincere, exciting player whose music has elements of melody, harmony and rhythm that communicate over ...
read moreJohn Blum Astrogeny Quartet: Astrogeny
by Clifford Allen
Bassist William Parker is known for his telepathic collaborations with percussionists; of late, his work with Hamid Drake has become an in-demand support system. Unfortunately not as well known or historically revered was his longtime partnership with free-percussion architect Denis Charles, which lasted from the '70s until Charles' death in 1998.
Recordings such as Parker's Through Acceptance of the Mystery Peace (Centering/Eremite) and In Order to Survive (Black Saint), clarinetist Peter Kuhn's Livin' Right (Big City) and Rob Brown's Breath ...
read moreFred Anderson/Hamid Drake/William Parker: Blue Winter
by Michael Davis
This record is a joy. A surprise it isn't. These three men have overlapping histories of development and collaboration of such depth that when they convene nowadays, the results are always inspired. One of Hamid Drake's early mentors was AACM mainstay Fred Anderson, who decided to stay home in Chicago, tend bar, and keep his connections to the muse wide open. Later, Drake connected up with William Parker, and they've played on dozens of excellent records over the past few ...
read moreFred Anderson: Blue Winter
by Kurt Gottschalk
If it wasn't one already, Fred Anderson's trio with Hamid Drake and William Parker can rightly be considered a supergroup. Anderson was named the first Vision Festival Lifetime Recognition honoree last month, and if such awards were given, Drake and Parker would surely have shared the MVP trophy. While the three have worked together before--notably in quartet with Kidd Jordan--this is their first trio recording.Blue Winter also may be Anderson's definitive release, at least thus far. He's made ...
read moreAlan Silva & William Parker: A Hero
by Michael McCaw
Alan Silva and William Parker collectively inform much of the role and possibilities of the acoustic bass that have been developed since the 1970s. From participating in Cecil Taylor-led ensembles and loft scenes to recording and performing some of the most challenging and rewarding music over the past thirty-some odd years, they have a storied and interwoven history. Consequently, an album of Parker/Silva duets could potentially be a historic moment. And while the results documented on A Hero's Welcome: Pieces ...
read moreFred Anderson: Blue Winter
by Michael McCaw
Listening to Fred Anderson can sometimes be akin to listening to a sage or prophet. Wordless history and wisdom simply pour from the bell of his horn, allowing him to communicate with listeners on a different level than most other musicians. Recorded on December 12, 2004, this two-CD, nearly 150-minute complete performance with William Parker and Hamid Drake speaks on many levels.Since Anderson's decision to return to music full time in the nineties (and still run ...
read moreAllen/Drake/Jordan/Parker/Silva: The All-Star Game
by Jeff Stockton
Very discreetly on the back of The All-Star Game 's black and white digipak packaging reads "Vol. II of the Silva/Parker Duos," and it's this collaboration that distinguishes this live jam session from other free jazz quintet workouts. William Parker's unwavering commitment to swing and rhythmic flexibility, paired with Alan Silva's original sense of time and unerring flair for the grand gesture, complement and counterbalance these same qualities in the dueling horn players, Kidd Jordan and Marshall Allen. Jordan's tenor ...
read moreJemeel Moondoc and Denis Charles: We Don't
by Clifford Allen
The duo recording is one of the most open windows available into the nature of improvisation; its give and take or discussive" aspects are often made very clear by two players involved in musical conversation. And nowhere are melody and rhythm so tightly balanced as they often are in a saxophone-and-drums duo. Coltrane’s last and finest flights were with Rashied Ali on Interstellar Space ; Ali and tenorist Frank Lowe met a few years later to record the blistering classic ...
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