WILLIAM PARKER
Scrapbook
Thirsty Ear
THI 57133.2
William Parker's name may be above the title, but as the subtitle -- violin
trio -- makes clear, the spectacular success of this CD rests in the bow
and four strings of Billy Bang.
Legitimate successor to the mantle of Stuff Smith as jazz's most original
string soloist, New York-based Bang's output has been inconsistent since
he first came to prominence in the late 1970s with the String Trio of
New York. But everything must have been in alignment on this date as Bang
cuts loose on a half-dozen of Parker's compositions, backed by the New
York bassist and Chicago drummer Hamid Drake.
On "Singing Spirits," which Parker dedicates to Charles Mingus,
not only are the creations of his fiddle speech-like, but instrumentally
the phrases are tougher than any gang-associated rapper could even hope
to equal. At time Bang's tone is so abrasive that it sounds as if he's
cutting into the wood and the catgut to slice out the music. Never a believer
in proper violin timbre, his lines are even more dissonant here as he
aims for the spirit beneath the music. At times he sounds like the type
of country violinist who recorded with Mississippi blues pioneer Charlie
Patton or perhaps an African one-string fiddler. Yet Parker's string progression
and the color from Drake's press rolls and cymbal power, cut that primitivism
with the sophistication of a modern improviser.
Parker describes "Dust on a White Shirt" as a "square dance
song." It's more like a country and western blues, though, sort of
what would happen if country fiddler Johnny Gimble knew Stanvinsky or
if Muddy Waters and Anton Webern got together at a barn dance. Piercing
at times, Bang's tone sounds that way inorder to allow him to play as
quickly as he needs. Most of the time he seems togo beyond portamento
and never take the bow off the strings,while Drake provides the rhythmic
bounce. Countrified all right, at one point it seems that the violin lines
and Parker's solid bass pulse are sounding out "Turkey in the Straw."
"Sunday Morning Church" is the bassman's real showcase however.
As secular as it is sacred, the polyphonic, more than 111/2-minute composition
mixes a tough ostinato from Parker and Bang's melancholy violin line.
The fiddler spends so much time figuratively speaking it tongues though,
that sometimes it seemshe's sounding two violins simultaneously. Meanwhile
the bassist revels in theresonation he can get from the lowest part of
his instrument, never pretending that he's playing a cello or a bass guitar.
Eventually the tune resolves itself into a cousin of one of John Coltrane's
single chord vamp pieces, in near inert tempo.
On other tracks on the CD based, says Parker, on memories and images from
dreams, Bang trade fours with Drake, but the overriding auditory image
he suggests is that of a string quartet made up of four violinists, each
quadruple stopping with solos in palatable screech mode.
Want a bang up demonstration of the skill of Parker of a composer and/or
Bang as a soloist? Scrapbook is the CD for you.
-- Ken Waxman
Track Listing: 1. Scrapbook; 2. Sunday Morning Church; 3. Singing Spirits;
4. Dust on a White Shirt; 5. Urban; 6. Holiday for Flowers
Personnel:
Billy Bang, violin; William Parker, bass; Hamid Drake, drums