In 2002, bassist/composer William Parker gathered 16 musicians of varying ages, cultures, and musical backgrounds for an experiment in "breathing together." Beautifully recorded and released here for the first time, it includes six spontaneously performed selections over two hours. While Parker sketched out visual scores, performers were not required to follow them. His many collaborators include trombonists Grachan Moncur III and Steve Swell; percussionists Jerome Cooper and Roger Blank; drummer Gerald Cleaver; violinists ...
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In 2002, bassist/composer William Parker gathered 16 musicians of varying ages, cultures, and musical backgrounds for an experiment in "breathing together." Beautifully recorded and released here for the first time, it includes six spontaneously performed selections over two hours. While Parker sketched out visual scores, performers were not required to follow them. His many collaborators include trombonists Grachan Moncur III and Steve Swell; percussionists Jerome Cooper and Roger Blank; drummer Gerald Cleaver; violinists Billy Bang and Jason Kao Hwang; saxophonists Daniel Carter, Rob Brown, and Carter Brandley; trumpeter Matt Lavelle; pianist Dave Burrell; guitarist Joe Morris; komungo player Jin Hi Kim; Japanese zither player Miya Masaoka, and vocalist Leena Conquest.Universal Tonality's six works range in duration from ten minutes to more than 30. Opener "Tails of a Peacock" commences with modal post-bop amid canny ensemble play. Swell's trombone offers a blues lyric as balafon, drums, piano, and bass surround him. Lavelle's trumpet hovers in the backdrop, as do keening saxophones. Despite the striated tonalities and slippery rhythms, this jam swings hard. "Cloud Texture (Death Has Died Today)" is 31 minutes in duration. Conquest narrates the first minutes before singing Parker's lyrics. Piano, bass, and percussion provide emphasis before horns, strings, flutes, and the dilruba (a bowed string instrument played by Parker), moan and whisper alternate harmonics into being. Blues, jazz, and art song commingle in a suite-like encounter for an embodiment of minimalist soloing and hard-swinging ensemble play. "Leaves Gathering (Headed Back to Tree)," finds Conquest reading a poem juxtaposing urban and natural images with spiritual sounds. Two-and-a-half minutes in, she drops out and the ensemble begins to "breathe," incrementally at first, as Morris' guitar winds around Carter's flute and tenor, a violin, komungo, and drums. He travels far and wide, displacing the listener's central attention as brass, modal pianism, free improv and folk sounds enter a dialogue. "Silver Sunshine" is introduced by Cooper playing chirimia (a Peruvian folk oboe) as Moncur's trombone joins to present a deft, polytonal blues before Burrell adds piano to introduce staggered horns, guitar, and percussion. Conquest soulfully croons as the band finds a sultry, walking groove. A set highlight, it alternately soars and swaggers with an expansive tonal palette underscored by Cleaver's mutant swing. Morris' guitar introduces "All Entrances (It is for You the Sun Rises)," and is quickly surrounded by violins, komungo, koto, and brass. It travels far afield yet never falls apart. Closer "Open System One" commences with Parker's fleet walking bassline and Conquest's syncopated poetic recitation. Cleaver's ride cymbals frame the exchange as violins and three saxes trade lines and solos, then engage Burrell's frantic chord voicings and a balafon in conversation as Parker and the drummer push hard at the margins. The bassist's concept is explicated in a well-written liner essay in a handsome, beautifully illustrated package. The music, no matter how far out, remains focused, even accessible. It makes Universal Tonality one of the most artfully realized longform experiments in vanguard jazz ever. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi
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