Aum

Product Description
Deuter, one of the first artists on the Kuckuck label, has thirteen titles on Kuckuck, as well as the musical score of a picture poem released on the MonteVideo label. They offer his unique uplifting melodies played on flute, guitar and synthesizer, blended with the sounds of nature. His creations incorporate a lightness of spirit, depth of vision, and a musical medley of East and West.

Deuter himself is a product of both East and West. He was born in 1945, in a small village of post–war Germany. As a child, he learned flute and taught himself guitar and harmonica. As a young adult, he worked as a graphic designer and newspaper columnist in Munich, but the musical drive within him persisted. Eckart Rahn, a young record producer at that time, recognized Deuter’s talents, and in 1971 released Deuter’s first recording, D, on the then fledgling Kuckuck label.

Aum,Deuter,Kuck Kuck Records,New Age / Meditation,Pop

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Average customer rating: An Offering from the Temple Caves Kidd Jordan's finest

Palm of Soul Kidd Jordan , Hamid Drake , and William Parker Manufacturer: Aum Fidelity ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | International | Styles | Music Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Similar Items: Timeless: Live at the Velvet Lounge Sound Grammar Streaming Penumbra Bob's Pink Cadillac ASIN: B000FKO3IA Release Date: 2006-06-13

Tracks:

1. Peppermint Falls
2. Forever
3. Living Peace
4. Unity Call
5. So Often
6. Resolution
7. Last Of The Chicken Wings

Amazon.com

New Orleans tenor saxophone legend Kidd Jordan's annual treks north to perform late-night sets with Windy City tenor legend Fred Anderson during the run of the Chicago Jazz Festival have become an institution. Though Anderson isn't featured on Palm of Soul, recorded in Brooklyn a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina destroyed Jordan's home, two of the mainstays of those afterfest gigs, Chicago drummer Hamid Drakeand New York bassist William Parker, are. "We're used to playing together," says Jordan, who not only thrives on their company on this spiritually charged session, he also thrives on the wider open spaces he has to work in. The spirit of John Coltrane hovers over the incantatory passages and charged, repeating phrases, and the ghost of Albert Ayler is detected in the squalls that climax "Living Peace" after nearly 15 minutes of loping reflection. But with the remarkable Drake also playing frame drums and tablas in conjunction with Parker's African guimbri and gongs, there is an elemental strength and elegant sense of control to this music that give it a quality all its own. --Lloyd Sachs

Album Description

"Other than it being wicked strong, there's no telling what Kidd Jordan will blow next." - NEW YORK PRESS

"Jordan launches his solos by building them layer by dynamic layer. [He ignites] the atmosphere with an overwhelming abundance of innovation and musicality." - ONE FINAL NOTE

"William Parker and Hamid Drake are the best rhythm section in jazz right now." -ALTERNATIVE PRESS

For some time, AUM Fidelity has wanted to produce an album featuring legendary New Orleans saxophonist Kidd Jordan with fellow master musicians William Parker and Hamid Drake. Finally, everything came together last summer - and then Hurricane Katrina hit. A week later, when AUM finally reached Jordan by phone and asked if he would still be able to make the session, he said, "Yeah man, let's do it!". Kidd Jordan is the patriarch of one of New Orleans' three principal contemporary families of music (along with the Marsalis' and the Nevilles). A partial list of artists he has performed with over the last 40+ years includes Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, The Supremes, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra Arkestra, Ellis Marsalis, The Temptations, and Cecil Taylor. Palm of Soul presents three master musicians in intimate musical conversation at the highest levels, rendering songs and trance pieces that elicit the full gamut of emotions. A major, utterly distinct, and distinguished album, this is most definitely foreground music.

Customer Reviews:

An Offering from the Temple Caves.......2007-01-04

Texturalized with shimmering, singing bowls, frame drums and percussive, stringed instruments from Africa, this cd is a quiet incantation.

Could it be that Katrina's sadness caused this album to sound like this? At least not conciously so, given Kidd's stance in the liner-notes. Then again, maybe William and Hamid did have the idea of giving Kidd a quiet, textural backdrop within which to sing the songs of his emotions. However it came about, this is an outstanding album. Buy this and The All-Star Game (Marshall Allen, Kidd Jordan, Alan Silva, William Parker, Hamid Drake) and you'll have lots of new inner-space within which to travel, different as these 2 fantastic albums are from one another.

I've been unhappy with William Parker and the Little Huey's new album (For Percy Heath) so far (darnit!!) but this cd leaves me feeling blessed to have found it. Track 1 comes and goes in a minute or 2, and gives the listener no hint of what is to come. It's as if the album begins with a snip of what was (before Katrina), and then travels through the innermost hopes and fears of what is and will be.

Kidd Jordan has stepped into a huge spot in my musical world in these past couple years. His spirit is seriously heavy. He has something of immense power. That doesn't necessarily mean immense volume or immense outbursts of sound, it just means immense power. When he's playing, I feel like I'm listening to one of the truly world-class human beings. How is he not rich and famous? How can he play like THIS and not be known/revered by half the country? He's like a human personification of one of the really good hallucinogenic drugs.

Intimacy, solace, and introspection. That's Palm of Soul. It's as if we've been granted access to experience the sounds of these 3 masters praying together.

Kidd Jordan's finest.......2006-06-19

Extremely significant offering from Kidd Jordan, William Parker, and Hamid Drake. The playing is slow and ballad like for the most part with Parker and Drake contributing in a delicate and unorthodox manner. Parker,especially,is heard on a variety of percussive instruments as well as his customary bass. It's a wonderfully calming spiritual soundscape for Kidd Jordan to play within and over top of.

We read in the liners that Kidd Jordan had lost his home to hurricane Katrina just three weeks before this recording took place. The impact of that devastation and the renewed hope for a strong and positive future are focal points along this musical journey. There are cries of despair coupled with the cries of birth and rebirth. Jordan's tenor sounds naked and alone, breathing with calm and then with fire, saying all that needs to be said.

I sat in silence for a while after I listened to this disc for the first time. It was if I was unaware that it was over. I somehow felt cleansed and free of the shackles that society insists I wear. I was calm and clear headed. It was only when my infant son tugged at my pantleg that I realized I was back.
I've listened many times now and with each visit I am rewarded in a new and delightful way.

Another stellar offering from Steven's little Brooklyn label...something we've come to expect every year now. This magnificent disc is highly recommended. Cheers!

Average customer rating: sublime This is good stuff!

Wisdom of Uncertainty David S. Ware Quartet Manufacturer: Aum Fidelity ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Corridors & Parallels Freedom Suite Live in the World Surrendered Flight of I ASIN: B000001ZDD Release Date: 1997-09-25

Tracks:

1. Acclimation
2. Antidromic
3. Utopic
4. Alignment
5. Sunbows Rainsets Blue
6. Continuum

Amazon.com

Through the '90s, Ware and Co. brought the sound of Coltrane's classic Quartet back to life, then shattered it into a thousand new possibilities. Ware's group has shaped an ocean of sound into outsized, abrasive, soulful jazz. This record again features the talents of the band's newish drummer, the subtle, chatty Susie Ibarra. But even taking into account her smaller, more compact additions to the dialogue, the quartet's sound only got bigger. Ware is in blast-off mode throughout, his tenor squawking its way to unbelievable heights, then rising higher. With Ibarra and bassist William Parker pulsing quietly and briskly below, it's left to pianist Matthew Shipp to fill up the center. He does so in a variety of ways: with hammering density, monkish knottiness, and wide, gently undulating rivers of notes. He's the perfect launching pad for Ware, and the lyrical heart of this brilliant music. --D. Strauss

Customer Reviews:

sublime.......2001-02-08

this was the first david s. ware record that i had heard. i had been recommended to listen to his stuff for a long time, so i found this one, bought it, and listened to it right when i got home. his playing is unlike anything that i have ever heard. at first i though it was a little brash...had to turn it off. second listening the same. third listening i found it to be some of the most amazing stuff i have ever heard. i now have almost all of his records.

This is good stuff!.......2000-09-20

Ware is in great form here. As usual for this group, Most of the songs begin with a short phrase and take off from there, usually returning at the end. As with the best of late Coltrane, its not the song but what is done with it that matters. Ware and group really dig into on this set.

Ware and Pianist Shipp are a little less "in your face." I once had a professor that described someones work as "not leaving any head room." I think that sometimes fits Ware and Shipp who often play with such force that they don't leave much room. It is on dates like this (and Flight of i & Surrenderred) where they lay back a little that magic is allowed to happen. Ibarra is excellent though she continues to improve and of course PArker is great.

Average customer rating:

First Communion/Piercing the Veil William Parker , and Hamid Drake Manufacturer: Aum Fidelity ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Similar Items: Volume 2: Summer Snow Renunciation Palm of Soul Painter's Spring O'Neal's Porch ASIN: B000MCH590 Release Date: 2007-02-13

Tracks:

1. Black Cherry
2. Chatima
3. Heavenly Walk
4. Japeru
5. Nur Al Anwar
6. Piercing The Veil
7. Loom Song
8. Chaung Tzu's Dreeam
9. Bodies Die/Spirits Live
10. First Communion I
11. First Communion I

Tracks:

1. First Communion II
2. First Communion III
3. First Communion III
4. First Communion III

Album Description

"These two high priests of free improvisation can rock `n' roll with the best of `em. They come together to create sounds, images, and ideas that transcend time and place." - ALL ABOUT JAZZ

"Displaying a full spectrum of sound, Piercing the Veil is a magical recording of two of the most soulful and spiritual voices in avant-garde jazz. This album is nothing short of essential." - OTHER MUSIC

"Parker and Drake visit under-explored territory here-the junction between the deepest riches of jazz and the many improvisatory traditions around the world that came before it." - NPR

"Piercing the Veil's opening cut is pure dance music-the pair never lose the groove, but they crank it up and out, heading to a place where ecstasy supercedes intellect ... a fascinating exploration of multiple sound worlds." - ALTERNATIVE PRESS

Massive. William Parker and Hamid Drake have been called the best rhythm section in jazz today. Let's go one step further and call them simply the best.

Piercing the Veil was originally issued on AUM Fidelity in 2001 and gave rise to giant amounts of praise and attention. It has been out of print for far too long. So, in re-issuing it, AUM decided to up the ante. First Communion has never been issued and is an equally extraordinary recording of this duo in their first-ever meeting, two days before the studio session that gave rise to Piercing the Veil. The meeting took place in Brooklyn at AUM HQ to an over-packed, rapt audience of eighty people. This is one of those rare moments where the Godhead was captured and is being shared anew and afar.

Volume 2: Summer Snow (their new studio recording) is coming in a few short months...

Average customer rating:

Volume 2: Summer Snow William Parker & Hamid Drake Manufacturer: Aum Fidelity ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music Similar Items: First Communion/Piercing the Veil Renunciation Palm of Soul Ojos Negros Composition / Improvisation Nos. 1, 2, & 3 ASIN: B000O3C56A Release Date: 2007-04-10

Tracks:

1. Awake, Arise
2. Sky
3. Earth
4. Pahos
5. Sifting The Dust
6. Edge Of Everything
7. Traces Of The Beloved
8. Anaya Dancing
9. Konte
10. Faces
11. Hadra

Album Description

"Parker and Drake visit under-explored territory here--the junction between the deepest riches of jazz and the many improvisatory traditions around the world that came before it." -- NPR

"These two high priests of free improvisation can rock `n' roll with the best of `em. They come together to create sounds, images, and ideas that transcend time and place." --ALL ABOUT JAZZ

"Displaying a full spectrum of sound, Piercing the Veil is a magical recording of two of the most soulful and spiritual voices in avant-garde jazz. This album is nothing short of essential." -- OTHER MUSIC

"With any luck, Piercing the Veil isn't just a [one-off] day trip for these guys, because this is a crucial free-jazz advance." -- WASHINGTON CITY PAPER

"Not since Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell joined forces have two musicians so organically wedded world music influences with free jazz. The resultant music is connected to history and culture yet true to its contemporary American roots. And the rhythms groove so deeply that if dance-club DJs got hold of this CD, all America would be moving to it." -- JAZZIZ

Volume 2: Summer Snow represents the second immaculate studio session of two of the greatest musical beings America has to offer the world. The recent expanded issue of their first duo meeting--First Communion + Piercing The Veil: Volume 1 Complete--displayed their eternal prowess via intensity in full, redefining drum & bass in any music. Summer Snow reveals Parker and Drake in a more meditative state, with Parker focusing on the doson'ngoni (Mali hunter's guitar) and shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute). Five years have passed since their first meeting, and a whole lot has changed, so catch up!

Average customer rating: Best Jazz Piano Trio album of 2005 the title says it all Album of the year

The Beautiful Triptych Myth Manufacturer: Aum Fidelity ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music General | New Age | Styles | Music Similar Items: Play Pilgrimage Momentum Time Lines 12 Songs ASIN: B000B8GTGU Release Date: 2005-10-04

Tracks:

1. All Up In It
2. Frida K. The Beautiful
3. Trident
4. Spiraling Out
5. Pooch (For Wilber Morris)
6. A Time To
7. Last Minute Trip (Part One)
8. Last Minute Trip (Part Two)
9. Poppa's Gin In The Chicken Feed
10. Robinia Pseudoacacia

Album Description

Triptych Myth is a new collective trio - Cooper-Moore, Tom Abbs and Chad Taylor. They have been honing their group concept in NYC for the past two years, and this first studio recording exquisitely captures them at the peak of their powers.

Cooper-Moore played piano as a child prodigy in churches near his birthplace in the Piedmont region of the Blue Ridge Mountains. His performance roots in the realm of avant jazz music date to the NYC Loft Jazz era in the early/mid-`70s. His first group was a collective entitled Apogee with David S. Ware and drummer Marc Edwards; in recent times, he was a core member of William Parker's In Order to Survive quartet and performed regularly with Susie Ibarra.

Chad Taylor's distinct voice and distinguished rhythmic/tonal vocabulary have been heard to great effect in performance, with musicians representing widely varied schools from Fred Anderson to John Zorn. He has also recorded or collaborated with Tortoise, Isotope 217, Sam Prekop, Stereolab, Mouse on Mars and Jim O'Rourke, and is a core member of the Chicago Underground Duo, Trio, Quartet & Orchestra.

Tom Abbs' large buoyant tone, versatility, and depth have led him to work with Butch Morris, Charles Gayle, Roy Campbell, Jemeel Moondoc, Billy Bang and many more.

The Beautiful ranges through heart-breaking new songs from Cooper-Moore, tone-poem explorations of the Now, new definitions of "swing," excursions into energy music that will further explode pre-conceived expectations, New American folktales waiting for the new America to be born, and cinematic colorations that carve sound into mountains. Word.

Customer Reviews:

Best Jazz Piano Trio album of 2005.......2005-10-26

"The Beautiful" is Triptych Myth's first of three albums for AUM Fidelity. Led by visionary jazz multi-instrumentalist and under-recognized composer Cooper-Moore, the trio is rounded out by bassist Tom Abbs and drummer Chad Taylor. Although equally known for his home-made instruments and unconventional techniques, here the leader sticks solely to piano, bringing with him over three decades of playing experience. While this is not the first album recorded by this ensemble, it is their most diverse and the most emblematic of their varied talents.

Opening the album with the skittering lines and frenzied free-bop pulse of "All Up In It," the trio quickly side-steps expected cliché by following with "Frida K. The Beautiful," a devastatingly ruminative ballad that is the yin to the opener's yang. The trio moves across the spectrum of jazz tradition from open ended free meditations like "Trident" and "A Time To" to the angular post-bop, call and response work-out of "Spiraling Out." Down home funky folk melodies like "Poppa's Gin In The Chicken Feed" and "Pooch" represent the rural tradition of American folk music. Exemplifying the trio's ability to circumvent traditional structures, "Pooch" eradicates expected stylistic boundaries by inverting the preconceived notion of soloist and rhythm section. With its repeated, bittersweet melody line underscored by Taylor's open ended free form drumming, Cooper-Moore holds the rhythmic structure of the tune down while the drummer embarks on what is essentially a continuous drum solo.

Cooper-Moore is a devilish pianist, with a touch that varies from deft pianissimo to throttling tone clusters, no technique is left unused. Chad Taylor, who has worked with everyone from the Chicago post-rock crowd to composer/improviser John Zorn, shines here. Often finding rubato rhythms to explore, Taylor is an imposing presence and it is a delight to hear him in such a stripped down acoustic setting. Tom Abbs often plays mediator in the trio, finding the spaces left unfilled by the other two, accompanying them from sporadic root note plucking to full on torrents of arco bowing. The close-knit interplay of these three is apparent from the album's first notes and subsequent listening reveals what is easily the year's finest jazz piano trio record.

Finding inspiration in sources as diverse as Cecil Taylor's classic free jazz excursions of the 1960's to the rural folkways of the Deep South, Triptych Myth is the ultimate distillation of improvised American folk music. "The Beautiful" is a historically aware case study in the diversity of a music who's relevance only deepens with the passing of time.

the title says it all.......2005-10-14

We need more recordings like this. I have never heard so much past, present, and future on a single disc before. It is as if the whole history of this music is unfolding before your very ears. Cooper-Moore is an astounding pianist and judging by that, he must be an equally astounding human being. To be able to create such sounds that encompass a full spectrum of emotion, and in such a -beautiful-way, would seem to be the work of a lifetime. Laugh, cry, sing, dance, and all things joyous are to be found here.
Tom Abbs and Chad Taylor have played together for a few years now. They can be heard on discs from c.i.m.p. and delmark backing players like Jemeel Moondoc, Steve Swell, and Ori Kaplan. Taylor is a unique percussionist and refreshing in this piano-bass-drums context. Tom Abbs is all over his bass, creating big beefy sounds that add depth and texture to the mix. The trio sounds like they've played together for a while and, indeed, they have a previous release on the hopscotch label.
The sound and production are exceptional. The music is of such a high quality that decades from now it will continue to be re-released. Cooper-Moore is setting a new standard for the contemporary piano trio. This WILL be one to grow old with. I can hardly wait for the impending follow up discs. Thanks for the treasure Aum Fidelity.

Album of the year.......2005-10-05

I've listened to this "Beautiful" album many times now and am still not sure how they do it.Cooper-Moore is an incredible piano player,somewhere between Jelly Roll Morton and Cecil Taylor.Tom Abbs plays bass as if he and Moore were NOT separated at birth.Chad Taylor's drumming is wondrous,at times,part of the rythymn and at others a lead player.From the "free jazz" opener,"All Up In It",the ballad,Frida K.The Beautiful,etc,etc,to the breathtaking finale,Moore's solo,"Robinia Pseudoacacia",there is not one wasted second and not one that doesn't sound as if it were not always meant to be.

Average customer rating: Jazz as a door to spirituality!

Renunciation David S. Ware Manufacturer: Aum Fidelity ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Similar Items: First Communion/Piercing the Veil Volume 2: Summer Snow BalladWare Palm of Soul Compulsion ASIN: B000O3C560 Release Date: 2007-04-10

Tracks:

1. Introduction
2. Ganesh Sound
3. Renunciation Suite
4. Renunciation Suite
5. Renunciation Suite
6. Mikuro's Blues
7. Ganesh Sound
8. Saturnian

Album Description

"Let's be bold: the David S. Ware Quartet is the best small band in jazz today. I realize that I will almost certainly hear another quartet, or trio or quintet or octet, this week or next, that will make me want to backpedal. But every time I see Ware's group or return to the records, it flushes the competition from memory." -- Gary Giddins, Village Voice

"This record is the deepest, most coherent, and most accessible DSWQ disc I've heard, and the best record of the year by far. Consider that a recommendation." -- All About Jazz Publisher's Pick

"Another absolutely killer and essential release for your pathetic and puny music collection from this seemingly possessed avant-jazz giant of the sax. He's taken the torch of Coltrane and not just carried it, but he threw the damn thing into an active volcano." -- ALTERNATIVE PRESS

"Visceral, relentless, cathartic, squalling--many of the words that have long been associated with saxophonist David S. Ware's recordings and performances apply as well to his new album. The sheer force of his tone--and his seemingly superhuman ability to sustain and manipulate its raw emotional power--are a marvel to behold, perhaps more so now than ever." -- WASHINGTON POST

"Ware's tenor orations often push into an abstract region that some listeners might call free jazz, yet his solos are so magnificent in their sweep, so propulsive in rhythmic drive, and so linear in melodic development that they prove impossible to resist." -- Howard Reich, CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Recorded live at Vision Festival 2006, Renunciation was the last US performance by David S. Ware's revered quartet. Featuring three brand-new compositions--the beauty ballad "Ganesh Sound," the epic title suite centerpiece, and the condensed encore--this concert, and exquisite recording thereof, offers the quartet at the very height of its powers as the members collectively say goodbye.

Customer Reviews:

Jazz as a door to spirituality!.......2007-07-14

Since John Coltrane jazz aficionados have not heard a musician so committed to the vision of music as an instrument, medium or what you want to call, to enter in new realms of bliss and high spirituality. The latter is all over this album of David S. Ware quartet's live presentation. I will not comment on the particular pieces, for that you can read the Amazon's synopsis, which is quite good in that regard. I will only express that the whole album flows at such a wonderful pace and the music is so rooted in deep feelings that it brought tears to my eyes... of bliss and happyness. David, Be blessed forever!!!!

Average customer rating: Excellent Improvising Group

Time Is of the Essence; The Essence Is Beyond Time Other Dimensions in Music With Matthew Shipp Manufacturer: Aum Fidelity ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Now! This Dance Is for Steve McCall Timeless: Live at the Velvet Lounge Compulsion ASIN: B00004NRXN Release Date: 2000-03-07

Tracks:

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4
5. 5
6. 6
7. 7

Amazon.com

Toward the end of 1999, pianist Matthew Shipp announced a recording hiatus. This project, recorded in 1997 and featuring bassist William Parker, drummer Rashid Bakr, trumpeter Roy Campbell Jr. and saxist Daniel Carter, gives fans of Shipp a recent glimpse into his thunderous improvisations. Shipp works with rumbling blocks of notes that he stacks around a composition. Since the work of Shipp and his cohorts is fully improvised, this solid foundation goes a long way in establishing the tone and direction of the music. To be sure, Shipp is in good company here. Parker is widely regarded as the bassist of the avant-garde, while both Campbell and Bakr enjoy growing reputations. Here, it is Parker who jumps to the fore. Accommodating Shipp's stabbing note-jolts with the deft bob and weave of a boxer, or leading Campbell's trumpet into the stratosphere with his arresting bow work, the bassist seems everywhere at once. Saxist Carter, while certainly a skilled, veteran improviser, seems content to observe the proceedings from a safer distance, offering quick commentary from the sidelines and occasionally jumping into the fray to tangle with Campbell. That's not to say that this is a high-octane free-jazz blowout. True to form, Shipp and Parker both excel at varying tone and tempo, creating textures that both excite and offer moments of contemplation. While not as epic as many of the Parker/Shipp conversations previously documented, Essence is still remarkable in the huge portion of ideas it digests, as well as the playing that manages to be both startlingly new yet confidently reassuring and brave. --S. Duda

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Improvising Group.......2001-06-04

This record features five current celebrities of the New York improvised music scene (as celebrities go in the world of improvised music). The quintet, for the most part, forms a coherent group capable of taking their music many places, which, on this record, they do.

The "rhythm section" (a role which the Messrs. Shipp, Parker, and Bakr take on capably in many instances) is especially tight, both harmonically and rhythmically. William Parker's open G-string playing has become more than a little cliched by now, but when he's not doing that he does some very interesting things. The trio forms a solid underpinning for Daniel Carter and Roy Campbell, both impressive, but I think a notch below their compatriots. I sometimes feel that they meander, particularly when they're playing together. However, when they find their groove, the energy really takes off. Mr. Carter's woodwind playing is better than his trumpet playing, but he manages to make both quite interesting. Mr. Campbell takes some exciting trumpet solos (I particularly like his muted solo in the second half).

This isn't my favorite improvised music group, but it is good music and worth listening to.

Average customer rating: the quartet All homes should have a porch this nice Parkers Finest Hour A refreshing blast of energy and inspiration Magnificent meeting of musicians and music

O'Neal's Porch William Parker Manufacturer: Aum Fidelity ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Sound Unity Painter's Spring Peach Orchard Scrapbook Raining on the Moon ASIN: B000063WDX Release Date: 2002-04-02

Tracks:

1. Purple
2. Sun
3. O'Neal's Porch
4. Rise
5. Song For Jesus
6. Leaf
7. Song For Jesus 3/4
8. Moon

Customer Reviews:

the quartet.......2005-04-13

Originally released in limited edition on Parker's own label, this one could have fallen through the cracks. Aum Fidelity secured the rights to issue it again and a wise choice it's turned out to be. This is one hot piano-less quartet playing with tremendous attack, imagination, and inspiration. The rhythm section digs and prods and grooves in such a joyous way. Brown's alto and Barnes' trumpet spew solo after solo of molten invention. It's like an updated version of the classic Ornette Coleman quartet and it's a nice surprise that it can sound so fresh.
This one is easily recommended.

All homes should have a porch this nice.......2004-11-30

This album took me a while to get into. For a while there (or maybe it was just my mood), it seemed oftentimes too straight ahead for me, or at least for me in relation to what I generally want from a William Parker band. Well, I got over that a while ago, and this is quite an album. It's true that in comparison to other Parker gigs and albums his own playing here is sometimes more in the vein of groove-centering anchor, rather than monstrous force of nature, forever cutting new lines and territory through the maelstrom. But so what? Besides, it's not like he is always just laying down the groove here. Take Rise, for instance. That's the William Parker playing we all know and love.

Rob Brown's playing hits me because he is both lyrical and free at the same time. Even when he gets wilder, there is still a sense that his horn is singing. I really love that. In terms of horn solos, I greatly prefer Brown's over Barnes', but together they are a wonderful team. Most of the time they play here, they play at the same time and that is when this pair truly shines. These guys are brilliant listeners. There are times where you feel like they are conducting the other guy's playing through their own playing. They consistently compliment and steer each other in new directions and it's a wonderful thing to hear. They completely give themselves to the idea of egoless interaction.

Do I put this on the level of Parker's Little Huey album, Mayor of Punkville? No, but that being one of my favorite albums of all time, there isn't much I put on that same level. That certainly doesn't mean everything else is pooey. This is one heck of a disc by a quartet that can release some more stuff any day now. I'll buy it. It's just that I wouldn't put this among the true heavyweight emotional WP albums.

Parkers Finest Hour.......2003-03-03

I own almost every disc that William Parker has performed on and of the albums on which he the leader and primary composer this is the finest. Nice heads and song developement, strong soloing throughout and a spirituality that we do not often find in creative / free music. This is life affirming music that will surely make you think and appreciate what we as a collective share in this human experience. Parker is strong, his playing muscular yet graceful. Honest music presented without pretention. Highly recommended

A refreshing blast of energy and inspiration.......2002-10-03

This is a superb album. William Parker and his group simply smoke from the first seconds of the album to the last. This is excellent improvisational music, with appealing themes to the songs. There is an energy, a life force to the music which is uplifting and powerful. One of the best jazz albums in years.

Magnificent meeting of musicians and music.......2002-08-31

Although this fine work has the stamp of Mr William Parker's leadership all over it - he produced it, issued it originally in an edition of 1000; he composed the eight pieces featured on it; his photo along with cousin Pamela and brother Thomas graces the front cover; and of course the Quartet is the William Parker Quartet- but the heart of the enterprise, the music itself, is clearly a conjunction of equals and intended to be so. Even more so I believe than the famed Ornette Coleman Quartet to which it has been compared. The music has moved on since, and thanks to, Mr Coleman and his great Quartet, and interestingly closer to, in some ways, the original democracy of collective improvisation that prevailed before Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet et al established the primacy of the soloist. For a distiguishing feature of O'NEAL'S PORCH is the sense of equality between the players and this is especially noticeable in the drumming of Mr Drake. His presence is manifest in every way - melodically, harmonically, and rhythmically - without being dominant. THe talking drums of Africa no less evident than the rhythmic complexities of bebop's Mr Max Roach or the late great Mr Ed Blackwell or Mr Shelley Manne, both once of the Ornette Coleman Quartet.
A second distinguishing feature is the tone - the titles such as SUN, MOON, LEAF, RISE, indicate a focus or search for a purity of expression similar to that of an innocence child's, cleaned of the layers of pretence or of guardedness that we perforce adopt as coping mechanisms as we age. The music seems free of the licks, and preconceptions, evoking feelings untrammelled. It succeeds in this even though it has structure and is purported to be one of the more "accessible" of Mr Parker's works. I found myself humming PURPLE after Id heard it. Is this a mark against the "avant garde"? Is it a musical crime for "free music" to be melodically capable of whistlin? I don't think so. This programme of music is a magnificent achievement.
Although there are some tracks that are more conventional in structure but swing like mad (PURPLE) or that are exultant with joy and intricately performed (LEAF)there is not one that does not have an individual life and interest different to each of the others. The ballad SONG FOR JESUS, set in the heart of the programme, but a 3/4 version performed on the penultimate track, is a ballad mainly for a wonderful conversation like, prayer like solo by Mr Rob Brown on Alto Sax, with Mr Barnes on muted trumpet and a latticework of percussionistic effects created by master drummer Mr Drake - all the while Mr Parker, urgent and persistent, provides solid ground for his partners three whilst being part of the dialogue. In conclusion : do yourself a considerable favour, buy two of these CD's and give one to a friend. Now that would express your love better than anything I know.

Average customer rating:

Speckly Shrimp Boat Manufacturer: Aum Fidelity ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Experimental Rock | Rock | Alternative Styles | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Experimental Music | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music ASIN: B0007UDCDU Release Date: 2005-04-05

Tracks:

1. Planter's Song
2. Seven Crows
3. Melon Song
4. Greenhouse
5. Shady Grove
6. Lemmings Leap
7. An Orchid Is Not A Rose
8. Triangle Song
9. Green Island
10. Speckly
11. Houston Tower
12. Drought Of '43
13. Hyatt Ridge Circle Dance
14. Country Wagon

Album Description

Every once in a while, an album comes along that fully captures the imagination and proves that there actually are new things under the sun. Originally issued in 1989 on LP only, Shrimp Boat's Speckly was one such album, prompting CMJ to gushingly label it "the debut of the year." Fifteen years later, the utterly distinctive mesh of bluegrass, folk, jazz and rock found on Speckly remains surprising, addictive and timeless.

In 2004, AUM Fidelity released the critically acclaimed box set Something Grand, which collected together four CDs of previously unreleased material. Speckly does NOT appear on Something Grand. This is the first time any of this material has ever been issued on CD.

Shrimp Boat was the legendary Chicago band made up of Sam Prekop, Eric Claridge (who both went on to form The Sea and Cake), Ian Schneller (Falstaff, Specimen Products), and secret weapon David Kroll. Speckly was the first album to be completed at the then-brand new Idful Music, and was recorded by Brad Wood (who later produced Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville) and Brian Deck (who went on to work with Red Red Meat, Califone, Modest Mouse and Ugly Casanova). Driven by soul and poetry, Shrimp Boat's material celebrates the imagination, the hallucinations and the dream.

Average customer rating: Musical Wordsworth! How do you review jazz? pure The Quartet The Quartet - Live!

Sound Unity William Parker Quartet Manufacturer: Aum Fidelity ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Similar Items: Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall 7 Black Butterflies O'Neal's Porch Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945 Sound Grammar ASIN: B0009298VG Release Date: 2005-05-03

Tracks:

1. Hawaii
2. Wood Flute Song
3. Poem For June Jordan
4. Sound Unity
5. Harlem
6. Groove

Amazon.com

This version of bassist William Parker's quartet debuted with the superb O'Neal's Porch in 2002, but it's based on long-standing allegiances. Alto saxophonist Rob Brown has worked with Parker since the 1980s, while Parker and drummer Hamid Drake have established themselves as a dominant rhythm section in many groupings, merging the elasticity of free jazz with the grooves of classic Blue Note hard bop. The clear inspiration for this band, completed by trumpeter Lewis Barnes, is Ornette Coleman's quartet, circa 1960 — a resemblance marked by Brown's speech-like alto saxophone and Drake's pulsing polyrhythm, combining African, Caribbean and New Orleans sources in a way that suggests Coleman's great drummer Eddie Blackwell. But what makes the William Parker Quartet most resemble the Coleman bands, and raises it well above imitation, is the almost telepathic interaction and bubbling conversation between the four; from homages to fallen giants like "Wood Flute Song" for Don Cherry to the dancing mood of "Groove." --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews:

Musical Wordsworth!.......2006-05-09

Having purchased a few of O'Neal's recordings through the AUM website, and finding this quartet's previous (O'Neals Porch) a high-water mark, I would nevertheless definitely put this one at the head of the class. I am not a jazzophile - Corbett and Giddins probably listen to more music on a lazy Sunday than I do in a month. Nevertheless, I know what I like and I think I could listen to Hamid Drake drum on the skull of my dying mother and still raise a smile. Highly recommended for the sound quality and the inventive playing that never loses the listener and rewards repeated plays.

How do you review jazz?.......2006-02-09

I'm a relatively recent admirer of jazz. My collection is growing but by no means comprehensive. I'm in awe of the reviewers in Downbeat Magazine and some of the ones on Amazon as well. They know the techniques the players use and precisely what a particular musician did at a particular moment to make the sound he or she made. I can't do that. All I can say is I was curious about this album after the "Best of 2005" designation by Amazon and bought it. What can I say? I love it! The greatest compliment I can give a jazz album is the fact that I can listen to it from beginning to end without moving a muscle. I'll probably take a shot at more titles by Mr. Parker and have already purchasedanother Amazon "Best Of" by Drew Gress. I guess I have a thing for free jazz bass. If that's not the correct term then I just really liked both albums a lot.

pure.......2005-06-08

This is an outstanding set of tunes, recorded live in montreal and vancouver last year. All six tunes are penned by Parker. They all have that rhythmic pulse that only Parker and Hamid Drake are able to create. Call it groove or call it swing, it's irrisistable. Nobody does it as well as Parker and Drake. Nobody.
Lewis Barnes and Rob Brown are an ideal horn team to play over top of the pulse. They are both strong ensemble players and spectacular soloists. There are no weak moments on this disc.
This is easily one of the top releases of this or any other year. Absolutely essential listening.

The Quartet.......2005-05-04

Mr. Parker's first album with this group, O'neal's Porch, rightfully received excellent reviews, appearing on NY Times top 10 list, and so on. The group did release another album a couple years ago with a vocalist, so this is essentially the second album featuring only the quartet.

It was released in late March by AUM Fidelity through their website, which is why I, and it seems the below reviewer, have heard this CD many times. I've listened to it almost every day for the past month, and I still look forward to listening it.

Parker has said that he would like his Orchestra to sound like a quartet- no easy feat considering the huge sound of it. At times I feel like this quartet sounds like an orchestra, and not because they play particularly loud or aggressive. As a matter of fact, this album is in many ways very straight ahead, full of melodies, walking bass, in the pocket drumming, and intertwined sax and trumpet. The reason I say that it sounds like an orchestra is that sometimes you can just hear something bigger than the four players. It has nothing to do with volume. It might be that they play so naturally, effortlessly, and with such confidence in each other, that they become not only "a whole greater than the sum", but an entire new entity. That may seem like hyperbole, but anyone who has seen William Parker play live knows that many strange things are possible.

More simply put, I think anyone can listen to this album and right away "get it". This is not avant-garde, or free, or straight ahead, or whatever other label there is. It is excellent music- and it also makes my crappy hour long commute somewhat enjoyable.

The Quartet - Live!.......2005-05-03

Jazz bassist and composer William Parker is the penultimate Renaissance Man. Founder and organizer of NYC's Vision Fest, big band leader, sideman extraordinaire and duo partner with such scene luminaries as Hamid Drake and Matthew Shipp, Parker has demonstrated his talents in almost every conceivable setting. But it is in that most traditional of post-bop line-ups that Parker's true genius manifests itself, the piano-less quartet. Although they only have one previous album available, 2000's magnificent studio recording: "O'Neal's Porch," their lack of catalog has not diminished the group's importance or level of acclaim. Recorded live (with studio quality sound) in Vancouver and Montreal, "Sound Unity" is the triumphant follow up fans have been waiting for.

The album features all new tunes played with the stylistic variety and passionate intensity that this group is admired for. Parker's quartet writing is surprisingly melodic considering his avant garde credentials and all of the tunes feature catchy, memorable melodies. There are bouncy mid-tempo swingers such as the opening cut, "Hawaii," and the retro-cool swagger of the noirish "Harlem." "Poem For June Jordan," is a magisterial ballad, but the order of the day is the vigorous but accessible free-bop found in the jaunty, angular "Wood Flute Song." Parker's interest in traditional ethnic music is represented with the Africanized bass modal vamp that introduces the title track and "Groove" features Hamid Drake delivering a shuffling reggae rhythm that takes the album out on a gentle but joyous note.

The ensembles harmonic and rhythmic interplay is so remarkable that one can't help but be reminded of Ornette Coleman's classic quartet. Rob Brown's keening tart alto is often the hot Yin to Lewis Barne's cool muted trumpet Yang and Parker is not only the foundation, but a mighty soloist as well. To say there have been few other jazz bassists since Charles Mingus who are as melodic as Parker is no casual overstatement. As a rhythm section, the Parker-Drake axis is an unbeatable combination, from thrashing primal energy to subtle, nuanced call and response, these two can and have played virtually everything together. Widely considered one of jazz's finest rhythm sections, Parker and Drake's symbiotic rapport is well documented with "Sound Unity" as ample proof. This quartet exemplifies the art of jazz improvisation at its most telepathic level, a group that will easily go down in the history books as revered as Miles Davis' second quintet or John Coltrane's classic quartet.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was an audience member for the Montreal set and so can readily attest to the remarkable performances contained herein. A note on the sound quality for audiophiles; although the audience can be heard briefly clapping in the distance after individual solos, there is no other obvious indication of their presence. The endless applause that normally plagues live albums before and after tracks has been mercifully edited out and so the album flows seamlessly. The band is well miked and up front in the mix, so the entire recording is virtually studio quality.

Meditation Music:

1. Baka
2. Beyond the Thunder
3. Boat People
4. Celtic Heartbeat Christmas
5. Chapter & Verse
6. Clouds from the East
7. Convergence
8. Dedicated to the One I Love
9. Deep Space Network Meets Higher Intelligence Agency
10. Desde Que Tu Te Has Ido

Meditation Music

meditation music

Meditation Music

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