Aum

Editorial Reviews
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. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Aum,Deuter,Kuckuck Schallplatten,Ambient,Arranger,Composer,Contemporary Instrumental,Electronic,Ethnic Fusion,Leader,New Age,New Age / Meditation,Pop

Aum

Tracks:

Interlude #1 (The Next Phase)
James Baldwin To The Rescue
Oglala Eclipse
I Can't Believe I Am Here

Tracks:

Interlude #7 (Huey's Blues)
3 Steps To Noh Mountain: Departure
3 Steps To Noh Mountain: Soft Wheel
3 Steps To Noh Mountain: Laughing Eyes And Dancing Hearts
The Mayor Of Punkville
Interlude #8 (Holy Door)
Anthem

Amazon.com

The Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra is one of the New York jazz scene's great treasures. Led by bassist William Parker, one of avant-garde jazz's preeminent bassists, the orchestra features 17 members of the downtown improvised music scene tackling the tricky concept of large-group improvisation. Recorded over the course of several live shows in 1999, the group's third album aptly captures the orchestra's unique chemistry--coalitions of instruments step up to lobby their ideas, individuals rise above the glorious cacophony to speak their mind, and everyone gets their say. The material varies from track to track on this double disc, seemingly taking on bits of music from the Far East, New Orleans, swing, gospel, and Parker's own singular style. The highlights here are many, but the epic title track is a sublime half-hour adventure in which the band truly swings. For fans of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Charles Mingus, and even Ellington. --Tad Hendrickson

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant, but uneven.......2007-01-10

It helps to think of Mayor of Punkville as a collection rather than as an album. Although in scope and stature, Mayor of Punkville is brilliant and possibly one of the best jazz records ever, what the previous reviewers fail to mention is that the album is also strikingly uneven, both sonically and structurally.

My first complaint is that the sound quality varies greatly from song to song, due to the fact that the recordings are compiled from various performances by the group during the year 1999. For instance, the recording of "James Baldwin to the Rescue," though not pristine, is airy and mixed well, capturing the live presence of the music. On the other hand, the title track, though amazingly composed and performed, sounds as if it was recorded by a fan's tape deck in the front row.

Another problem with this massive undertaking is the fact that tracks which are epic, sprawling, multi-part masterpieces are coupled side-by-side with short, fragment-like songs held together by a single theme. The title track would have probably worked better as an album unto itself, but instead it is packaged next to the short (though poignant) "...Noh Mountain" series. Also, some songs, such as "James Baldwin..." run a bit too long with instrumental sections which don't enhance the overall effect of the work. Needless to say, the sequencing of this beast of a record leaves something to be desired.

The only other gripe I have about Mayor of Punkville is the drumming of Andrew Barker on some of the tracks. I found his playing to be a bit tempered and methodical in relation to the organic style of the rest of the ensemble. I felt that there were sections in some songs where, should he have instituted a rhythmic change rather than plowing on with the same beat, the group would have really taken off into the stratosphere. During the climax of "Oglala Eclipse," for example, the horns begin to break down into a free jazz cacophony, but Barker continues to play a standard bop-ish rhythmic structure. Rarely should a drummer be led on by the melodic voices in any ensemble, yet this is what seems to be happening here.

That said, with Mayor of Punkville, William Parker and "Little Huey" have absorbed every compositional and stylistic possibility since the beginnings of jazz onward, from Duke Ellington to the Rova Saxophone Quartet, and spewed it all out into a gigantic, sprawling mess of a masterpiece. This album is a dense landmark of jazz, filled with impassioned playing and imaginative, important compositions (not to mention insightful, fantastical liner notes by Parker). Plus, it's good to hear something like this happening in the rather stagnant climate of contemporary jazz - I just wish it was organized and recorded better!

Ellington, Dolphy and Garcia would have loved this, too.......2004-09-15

This is a masterpiece of composition and improvisation... of the higher purpose of expressing the deeply human. This is one of the discs that makes me feel like if William Parker had never done anything before or after this album, this alone would cement his place as one of the all-time greats in American music. The other disc he was part of that I put into this core group is the Fred Anderson Trio (Fred on Tenor, Hamid Drake on drums, and William on bass) 5/28/99 performance that circulates on CD-R. I'm not sure it can get better than these two.

I want to name the whole band here because they deserve it. William is the composer and spark behind the magic (and the bassist, plus piano for 3 tracks), but had he not been able to put a band like this together, it wouldn't have worked. Roy Campbell on trumpet/flugelhorn. Lewis Barnes on trumpet. Steve Swell on trombone. Chris Jonas on soprano sax. Rob Brown on alto sax/flute. Charles Waters on alto sax/clarinet. Dave Hofstra on tuba. Cooper-Moore on piano. Richard Rodriguez on trumpet. Masahiko Kono on trombone. Alex Lodico on trombone. Darryl Foster on tenor/soprano sax. Ori Kaplan on alto sax. Dave Sewelson on baritone sax. Andrew Barker on drums. Aleta Hayes on vocals for one track (James Baldwin to the Rescue).

This is what I'd call an AvantSpiritOrchestra. The way this band eases in and out of William's beautiful melodies and themes is a joy to hear. Rhythmically, this band is a dream come true. They have this subtle sense of swing that permeates everything... you get sucked into the thematic movement of this music, and then you realize you've probably been bobbing your neck like this for the past 30 minutes without even realizing it.

I think it was that Delroy (Lindo) on Spike (Lee) documentary on IFC where Spike talked about why he chose Aaron Copland's music for the basketball scenes in He Got Game. He talked about how deeply American the themes feel, how they set a whole mood that is American. Spike was right, and that's also how I feel about this disc. At times this music is like wide-open, group-mind improvisation at the ultimate level... beyond where Ellington's Far East Suite meets the Grateful Dead's 5/16/72 Other One... just a completely gorgeous, mind-altering near-Godly experience. At other times they are a marching band parading Boston's streets on the 4th of July of 1890.

You will have your own favorite moments and emotions I'm sure, so I'm not going to say anything specific to any tunes here. I want people to feel this on their own terms, not to be listening to it and thinking "Okay a reviewer said the next tune is better, or this is the best moment on the disc, etc...". One thing I do want to say is that I love how it is plainly obvious that William is culturally/musically omnivorous. If you have any music from various cultures in Laos, you know that that fantastic mouth-organ is like the National Instrument of Laos. There is a section here where William voices the orchestra in a way that gets very near to the timbre of the Laotian mouth-organ. I really love that part, and I'm sure William knew what he was doing.

I don't even really feel like this is a cd I bought. I feel like this was a gift to us from William and I just happened to be blessed enough to have the opportunity to feel it for myself. Thank you to everyone involved.

Even Better Than Sunrise!!!.......2000-08-03

Little Huey's follow-up to the excellent "Sunrise in the Tone World" is even better. The Balance of structure and freedom is RIGHT ON! Perhaps using a smaller band help keep things in check a little more than before.

I tend to play the second disc more often, perhaps this is because of the excitement of Interlude number 7 though every track makes me say "WOW!!!" This is dynamic music that is hard to describe. It burns with power yet is often subtle and complex. If the sound clips interest you at all, get this set. The sound clips cannot give you the breadth of this compelling music.

First Communion/Piercing the Veil
Average customer rating:
First Communion/Piercing the Veil
William Parker , and Hamid Drake
Manufacturer: Aum Fidelity
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Volume 2: Summer Snow

Renunciation

Palm of Soul

O'Neal's Porch

Painter's Spring

ASIN: B000MCH590
Release Date: 2007-02-13

Tracks:

Black Cherry
Chatima
Heavenly Walk
Japeru
Nur Al Anwar
Piercing The Veil
Loom Song
Chaung Tzu's Dreeam
Bodies Die/Spirits Live
First Communion I
First Communion I

Tracks:

First Communion II
First Communion III
First Communion III
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
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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:

Awake, Arise
Sky
Earth
Pahos
Sifting The Dust
Edge Of Everything
Traces Of The Beloved
Anaya Dancing
Konte
Faces
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

"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!

Aum
Average customer rating:

Wrong Group....Hollywood Joe

I saw Aum on July 19th,1969 at the Fillmore East,New York Ci

Awesome adventurous trance-inducing kraut-rock

Awesome adventurous trance-inducing [german]-rock

Psychedelic & trippy

Aum
Deuter
Manufacturer: Kuckuck Schallplatten
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Ecstasy

Haleakala

Celebration

Nirvana Road

Terra Magica: Planet of Light

ASIN: B0000007VJ
Release Date: 1998-03-03

Tracks:

Phoenix
Aum
Soham
Offener Himmel I/Gleichzeitig
Offener Himmel II
Sattawa
Morning Glory
Soma
Surat Shabda
Abraxas
Susani
The Key

Album Description

Deuter, one of the first artists on the Kuckuck Schallplatten label, has thirteen titles on Kuckuck, as well as the musical score of a picturepoem 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 his first recording, D, on the then fledgling Kuckuck label.

Deuter began to go into the mountains to record birds, water and wind to accompany his music. He was one of the first artists to do so and his deep relationship with nature persists to this day. He also began his spiritual search, spending much of his time at an ashram in Poona, India. Deuter was also one of the first artists to blend that Eastern influence into his music. He did that blending in such a gentle fashion that it never jarred Western ears, unaccustomed to Eastern rhythms and tonalities.

Aum and Celebration were his first recordings to spring from this new direction in his life. His 1978 release, Haleakala, was recorded in Poona. This release was a true portrait of Deuter's spiritual quest as well as production talents. Using a four-track tape machine and a progression of sub-mixes down to two tracks, Deuter was able to blend his own performances of two flutes, two guitars, organ synthesizer, and bells percussion along with natural sounds. This sixteen-track requirement he accomplished in the middle of India on just four tracks with an amazing technical fidelity.

Future releases only perfected the recording quality of Deuter's magical music. In his own words, that music takes us to the beautiful place inside where the listener can experience warmth, the playfulness, the love, the compassion, the gentleness. That is the music I want to make for others. And that is just what he has done.

Cicada and Nirvana Road showcase Deuter's remarkable ability to produce music that is more and more danceful, lighter, happier and more playful, full of heart and still have in it somewhere a vision of silence. Call of the Unknown: Selected Pieces 1972-1986, contains a compilation of the most sublime pieces of Deuter's repertoire. Land of Enchantment is Deuter's biggest selling album.

Together, these releases represent the first 21 years of Deuter's exceptional music, a spectrum of radiant outpourings and quiet meditations.

Customer Reviews:

Wrong Group....Hollywood Joe.......2004-06-04

I saw Aum on July 19th,1969 at the Fillmore East,New York Ci, February 5, 2003
Reviewer: Hollywood Joe from California
Hello,I was there on july 19th,1969 to see Aum,a great rock trio from San Francisco,do their thing.They opened for Creedence Clearwater Revival....Terry Reid from England was also on the bill that summer night.I can distinctly remember the lead singer/lead guitarist doing a slow introspective jazzy rock intro to the old Hoagy carmichael song "Georgia on my mind".
And as he finished the intro the audience could not help but cheer,applaud and admire it so much that his very words were.....

....."aww,shucks".....I remember it like it was yesterday
as his frizzy hair formed a sort of pyramid in shape and his Gibson SG solid body guitar slung over his bare chest.
The music was filled with power.....I felt that the group was close to the Jimi Hendrix Experience in many respects.
As for the other two members,the bassist as well as the drummer,I thought they were just as powerful with their playing as the lead man was.And only today after all these years I found out there names.....Wayne Ceballos,lead singer and lead guitar,Ken Newell on bass and Larry Martin the drummer.
I will order some of theis music soon.
Joe Nania

This is not that group. Amazon does not carry that outstanding group here. AUM is carried on Amazon.de .... however the website is in German and refuses to ship to US...

I saw Aum on July 19th,1969 at the Fillmore East,New York Ci.......2003-02-06

Hello,I was there on july 19th,1969 to see Aum,a great rock trio from San Francisco,do their thing.They opened for Creedence Clearwater Revival....Terry Reid from England was also on the bill that summer night.I can distinctly remember the lead singer/lead guitarist doing a slow introspective jazzy rock intro to the old Hoagy carmichael song "Georgia on my mind".
And as he finished the intro the audience could not help but cheer,applaud and admire it so much that his very words were.....

Awesome adventurous trance-inducing kraut-rock.......2003-02-01

I have heard a LOT of kraut-rock in the past few years. Tons of Faust, Can, Amon Duul, Agitation Free, Ash Ra Temple, Neu, etc etc etc....and this album by a guy I'd never heard of stands up there at the very top of the pile.

He's often compared to Tangerine Dream , but I have yet to hear a TD album that makes my soul smile like this first album by Deuter. This is a wonderfully entertaining exploration of drones, swells, rhythms, and melodies. Deuter was clearly a student of Indian ragas, but he took that influence and mixed it with drug-tinged psychedelia and synthesizers to create a vibrant new hybrid.

If you're into kraut-rock, world music, ambient, and/or psychedelia, you need to get this album. Also highly recommended to fans of Acid Mothers Temple and the new psychedelia.....

Awesome adventurous trance-inducing [german]-rock.......2003-02-01

Wow. I have heard a LOT of [german]-rock in the past few years. Tons of Faust, Can, Amon Duul, Agitation Free, Ash Ra Temple, Neu, etc etc etc....and this album by a guy I'd never heard of stands up there at the very top of the pile.

If you're into [german]-rock, world music, ambient, and/or psychedelia, you need to get this album. Also highly recommended to fans of Acid Mothers Temple and the new psychedelia.....

Psychedelic & trippy.......2000-07-20

Recorded in 1971, it is clear that certain psychedelic drugs most likely were influences in the creation of this music. 3-D sound effects similar to Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" sweep accross your brain leading you to audio virtual environments and possibly into altered states of consciousness-- no drugs necessary.... Best listened to with headphones when you want to escape from reality.

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

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First Communion/Piercing the Veil
Volume 2: Summer Snow
BalladWare
Palm of Soul
Cornell 1964

ASIN: B000O3C560
Release Date: 2007-04-10

Tracks:

Introduction
Ganesh Sound
Renunciation Suite
Renunciation Suite
Renunciation Suite
Mikuro's Blues
Ganesh Sound
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:

Don't miss this recording
harsh and aggressive but also totally mesmerizing and beautiful

Long Hidden: The Olmec Series
William Parker
Manufacturer: Aum Fidelity
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Palm of Soul
Streaming
Sound Unity
Penumbra
O'Neal's Porch

ASIN: B000EBGEIM
Release Date: 2006-03-14

Tracks:

There Is A Balm In Gilead
Long Hidden Part Two
Codex
El Puente Seco
Long Hidden Part Three
Cathedral Of Light
Compassion Seizes Bed-Stuy
Pok-A-Tok
Espirito
Long Hidden Part One
In Case Of Accident

Album Description

"...Heading to a place where ecstasy supercedes intellect. A fascinating exploration of multiple sound worlds." - ALTERNATIVE PRESS

"A common myth says that holy men must speak in tongues. Take a quick tour through the world of William Parker, and you'll learn that this high priest of free improvisation can rock `n' roll with the best of `em...creating sounds, images and ideas that transcend time and place." - AllAboutJazz.com

William Parker's new album, Long Hidden, explores and expands on the ancient DNA/cultural codex that connects Africa to the Americas - reflecting Parker's long-abiding interest in and study of the continental connection between the Manding people of West Africa and the Olmec of ancient Mexico.

The album opens with an arrestingly spacious solo bass performance of the traditional hymn "There is a Balm in Gilead," one of Parker's favorites, and continues with music from three different sessions. Also features, fully off the grid, four tracks by The Olmec Group, composed of veteran sax player Dave Sewelson, formidable bass player and Billy Bang collaborator Todd Nicholson, and Omar Payano, Isaiah Parker, Gabriel Nunez and Luis Ramierez - all under 23 years old. These four tracks are the crux of the album - mysterious and entrancing sound poetry embracing the Caribbean and Middle Americas via inspiration drawn from the Great Stone Head of the Olmec.

Customer Reviews:

Don't miss this recording.......2006-04-03

This CD is made up of a mix of performances from different dates, William Parker playing solo and performing with the Olmec group. Because of this, one might expect less cohesiveness than is typical of other Parker recordings. Such an expectation, however, would miss the mark. The different recording sessions really do sit well together, sharing a peacefulness and tranquil beauty that is not often the hallmark of Parker's other, more urgent recordings. There are several stunning solo pieces on the bass and on the doson ngoni, an african stringed instrument in a higher register with a humming buzzing sound. As always, Parker's remarkable tone and rhythmic complexity just grab the listener and don't let go.

I think this is one of Parker's most accessible recordings of late. Distinctly absent are the 25 minute long roaring polyphonic big band barages of sound I have come to love from the Little Huey Creative Musical Orchestra and In Order to Survive. Nonetheless, this is a beautiful recording and, to those who may not be familiar with his music, a great way to be introduced to the music of Mr. Parker.

Avant-guard purist, have no fear. The music is not saccharine, nor has Mr. Parker toned down his sophistication for the masses. I think this is simply a more peaceful recording, and a welcome new way to hear Mr. Parker.

harsh and aggressive but also totally mesmerizing and beautiful.......2006-03-19

There's something about William Parker that for some reason makes me end up not paying too much attention to what he's up to. Sure a lot of what he does is indeed mindblowing. But a lot isn't. And the problem is there is just so much William Parker, that I'd sort of just given up on caring too much. The pay off for keeping up was just not enough.

But hell if this new record doesn't have us kicking ourselves. I was struck immediately by the instantly recognizable artwork and weird bubbly letters, the work of John Fell Ryan, a member of the mysterious Excepter. Strange match up that's for sure. It had me assuming that this was William Parker WITH Excepter, which would indeed be something else! But the actual reality is even stranger, Parker and a twenty something merengue band, weird but it works. Wonderfully.

The first track is a blissful and tranquil meditation for solo bass, so spacy and lovely. Then a brief spin on the 8-string doson ngoni, which produces a lovely buzzing drone, and then Parker is joined by the Olmec Group, bass, sax, timbale, bongos, conga, percussion and accordion, and the sound is festive, joyous, jazzy but funky and mysterious. Horns wheeze and drone over bopping bass and clattery percussion, like some wild avant block party. These tracks are the heart of the record, a wild, breathless fluttering heart. Fiery and fun, lively and so alive. Those tracks are separated by solo Parker joints, one on which he makes the bass squeak and squeal like a feeding back guitar mixed with a glass harp, all shimmering harmonics and squealing string scrapes, another with Parker turning his 8-string doson ngoni into some gorgeously alien Appalachia.

The record winds down with another solo bass exploration, warm and muted and almost folky sounding. The final track, a bonus track which was recorded in 1993 and originally appeared on a super limited cassette is Parker solo on electric bass, sawing away, coaxing all kinds of buzzing and droning from his bass, harsh and aggressive but also totally mesmerizing and beautiful.

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

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Timeless: Live at the Velvet Lounge
Sound Grammar
Streaming
Penumbra
Bob's Pink Cadillac

ASIN: B000FKO3IA
Release Date: 2006-06-13

Tracks:

Peppermint Falls
Forever
Living Peace
Unity Call
So Often
Resolution
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:

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

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Raining on the Moon

ASIN: B000063WDX
Release Date: 2002-04-02

Tracks:

Purple
Sun
O'Neal's Porch
Rise
Song For Jesus
Leaf
Song For Jesus 3/4
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

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Something Grand

ASIN: B0007UDCDU
Release Date: 2005-04-05

Tracks:

Planter's Song
Seven Crows
Melon Song
Greenhouse
Shady Grove
Lemmings Leap
An Orchid Is Not A Rose
Triangle Song
Green Island
Speckly
Houston Tower
Drought Of '43
Hyatt Ridge Circle Dance
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.

OM - AUM
Average customer rating:

Excellent for focused meditation

Center yourself with this cd!

OM - AUM
Allen Burns
Manufacturer: None
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | New Age | Styles | Music
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Chanting Om

ASIN: B0007XAR44
Release Date: 2005-02-28

Tracks:

Bi-directional Om (AUM) with Tibetan Bowls empowered with Re Hu Tek energy. (35 mins)

Album Description

OM, is the root of all mantras. Powerful and empowering, OM has been used for thousands of years to create great and positive change. But, OM must be chanted correctly for its power to be invoked.

OM is really 3 words AUM: A: Waking; U: Dreaming; M: Deep Unity. Chanting AUM correctly is empowering. Swami Shivananda wrote, "AUM is a mass of radiant energy. It awakens supernatural powers and generates creative force. It is unique, powerful, and supremely divine."

The AUM/OMs on this CD were created using a flow of AUM/OM blended with the ancient Egyptian transformative energy, Re Hu Tek™(RHT), for unity, balance, transformation, and empowerment.

Plus, this unique CD was created using a special musical interval known as the perfect 5th, used for centuries by the Chinese, for universal harmony, the Greeks for Delphi rituals, and Hindus to unite chanter and Shiva in the dance of life.

As you listen, especially with headphones, a wave of motion, moves through your brain from side to side, creating a hemispheric balancing that helps you receive the power of AUM/OM and RHT in a deep and powerful way.

The addition of genuine Tibetan 7-metal bowls and Tingshas induce deep meditation and help you reach a state of expanded awareness. These antique instruments produce a unique, clear, softly penetrating sound that cannot be reproduced today because the formula for creating them is lost. They balance left/right brain and bring deep meditation and expanded awareness.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent for focused meditation.......2006-08-20

This is exactly the kind of OM CD many have been seeking. If you are looking for the pure sound of 'Aum', whether for meditation or relaxation, this CD is perfect.

Center yourself with this cd!.......2005-03-29

I LOVE this album. It centers me even after the worst day. It relaxes me makes me feel good at the same time. It's like a little meditative journey and if my copy of AUM ever got destroyed or lost I would buy another one immediately. I highly recommend this album for anyone who likes to get rid of their stress. I also highly recommend this album for anyone who likes to explore their inner self.

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