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
