Jazz Archives

The "version" of Painkiller John Zorn assembled for this performance in his month-long 50th birthday celebration at Tonic included Bill Laswell from the original incarnation and drummer Hamid Drake as well as vocalist Mike Patton. While Patton is no Yamantaka Eye, Drake is far more compelling as a drummer than Mick Harris. The insert on the set correctly claims that this unit is something completely different. Not only does this band play a less free version of jazz, punk, and rock, it also plays free of many of the dub trappings it had engaged in an earlier incarnation. This is a deeply groove-oriented set of vanguard funk, jazz, and rock. There are three tracks here, and all of them are driven by the bedrock of Laswell's dirty funk playing and Drake's propulsive kit work. Zorn is out front playing snake-wise, melding everything from hard bop, free jazz, soul-oriented groove lines, and his own unclassifiable sonic palette. Patton's vocals are heavily treated yowls and screams combined with rhythmic breath work and moans. Tape delays are employed here as well, making the entire set a compelling, singular workout that is exciting, harsh, intense, and compelling.

:::Review by Thom Jurek:::

Painkiller - 50th Birthday Celebration Vol.12 (2005)

1. Your Inviolable Freedoms (20:29)
2. DPM (16:24)
3. Prophethood Of Chaos (6:24)

Credits
- Bill Laswell / bass
- John Zorn / saxophone
- Hamid Drake / drums

Special Guest

- Mike Patton / voice

William Parker continues to churn out CDs on a pace that might rival Steve Lacy, Satoko Fujii, or David Murray's epic proportions. While each project reaches ever higher levels, this recording from the twelfth annual Vision Festival in New York City might be close to his zenith. Three long compositions allow his some 16-piece band of horns, woodwinds, and strings to not only cut loose with potent solos as you would expect, but exist as a single crystalline entity with multiple and equal facets of ethnic, improvisational, and modern compositional forms. The music is as stunning as any Parker has devised in his career, but there are some caveats. For one, Parker plays no acoustic upright bass, leaving that to Shayne Dulberger. The oud of Brahim Frigbane and electric guitar of Joe Morris adds a lean and sparse element. But the music is generally broad ranging, expansive, and layered, thanks to the immense talents of accomplished modernists like trumpeter Lewis Barnes, alto saxophonist Rob Brown, tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Sabir Mateen, violinist Jason Kao Hwang, Jessica Pavone on the viola, and twin drummers Gerald Cleaver and Hamid Drake. Of the three long pieces, "Lights of Lake George" is a true magnum opus. A 7/8 modal bassline joins the dancing baritone of David Sewelson and Frigbane's oud, then the wordless East Indian vocals of Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay make way for string solos from the brilliant Hwang and Pavone, the burnished trumpet of Barnes, the shenai or musette of Cole and Parker, and clarinet of Mateen. The piece is not so much about improvisation as the consistent symmetry and balance from the entire band throughout weaving intricate colors. The double reeds open on the 4/4 "Neptune's Mirror," as the distinct and jangly guitar of Morris takes over, Sewelson leads horn punctuations with a cello aside by Shiau-She Yu, then cello and oud. The piece has an eerie yet earthy feel as all strings chime in, and Bandyopadhyay recites a poem of enlightenment, while reminding us of either loved or allegedly hated humans who have passed that "we can not bring them back to life." The opener "Morning Mantra" is a modal ostinato bass and drums riff with a quick guitar from Morris under long tones from the ensemble dominated by the high-pitched double reeds in a universal tonality, with Bandyopadhyay again poetically waxing on the wind, light, and life over a multilayered framework of dense tones, themes and world-wide excursions. One who listens closely, and more than once, will reap great rewards from this, another excellent document in the growing and substantive discography of the consistently forward thinking Parker.

:::Review by Michael G. Nastos:::

William Parker - Double Sunrise Over Neptune (2008)

1. Morning Mantra 15:08
2. Lights Of Lake George 27:18
3. O'Neals Bridge 0:37
4. Neptune's Mirror 22:39

Credits
Bass - Shayna Dulberger
Cello - Shiau-Shu Yu
Drums - Gerald Cleaver , Hamid Drake
Guitar, Banjo - Joe Morris
Oud - Brahim Frigbane
Reeds [Double] - Bill Cole
Reeds [Double], Performer [Doson'ngoni], Conductor, Written-by, Producer - William Parker
Saxophone [Alto] - Rob Brown
Saxophone [Baritone] - Dave Sewelson
Saxophone [Tenor], Clarinet - Sabir Mateen
Trumpet - Lewis Barnes
Viola - Jessica Pavone
Violin - Jason Kao Hwang , Mazz Swift
Voice - Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay

The Die Like a Dog Quartet came together four years after recording their first album for the 30th Total Music Meeting festival in Berlin that took place in November 1997. The sets that the quartet performed over the course of the three day festival were subsequently released by the FMP label in two volumes entitled Little Birds Have Fast Hearts. Peter Brötzmann plays tenor, of course, as well as some tarogato and clarinet, and he is joined by bassist Wiliam Parker, drummer Hamid Drake, and trumpeter Toshinori Kondo who occasionally utilizes electronic effects. On this first volume, the quartet is in it for the long run; there are just two parts, totaling over an hours' worth of music. They go long, but not without pause, for there are definite let-ups over the course of "Part 1" (which remains engaging and varied throughout its 45 minutes), and "Part 2" is a relatively low-key piece. But "calm" and "low-key" for this group are still strongly out; there is no "casual" mode, there is no collapsing into old forms, this is a work-out, and all four musicians give 100 percent as they are known to do. This is not music for people wanting to hear some nice jazz, some hum-along-able standards; this is music for listeners who want to take a journey and are willing to let this quartet steer. The Die Like a Dog Quartet is not improvising for an audience, they are improvising because. Because that is how you find music. Little Birds Have Fast Hearts, No. 1 is a great example of why that is important.

:::Review by Joslyn Layne:::

Die Like A Dog Quartet -  Little Birds Have Fast Hearts, No. 1 (1998)

1. Part 1 45:45
2. Part 2 21:59

Credits
Clarinet, Tárogató, Saxophone [Tenor], Composed By - Peter Brötzmann
Double Bass - William Parker
Drums - Hamid Drake
Trumpet, Electronics - Toshinori Kondo