William Parker Quartet -- Sound Unity (AUM Fidelity)
William Parker's recent music-making evinces an interest in rapprochement, combining traditional and modern jazz influences. On this quartet date, the bassist is joined by alto saxophonist Rob Brown, trumpeter Lewis Barnes and drummer Hamid Drake. On "Hawaii", a spirited unison head leads to overlapping and dovetailing duets from Brown and Barnes. "Wood Flute Song" is driven by scintillating drumming from Drake and Parker's acrobatic walking bass lines. Brown's solo fills in practically every note in the alto's compass, swinging all the way.

"Poem for June Jordan" has a sweet melody that is played with numerous embellishments -- bent blue notes and cascading arpeggios by both saxophone and trumpet; Drakes matches them with shimmering cymbal flourishes. The title tune features an extended duet by the rhythm section; Drake polyrhythmically plays all around Parker's rock-steady groove. When Brown and Barnes enter, they add another two layers of rhythmic independence, making the tune a veritable feast of counterpoint. "Harlem", with its broad swinging rhythms and smoky ambience, nods to fifties nightclub jazz. "Groove" ends the disc with a slinky, funky composition; Parker's bass excursions and the tight horn lines will stay with you long after the track finishes. In fact, Sound Unity's emphasis appears to be on memorable tunes -- of which there are plenty. This in combination with the William Parker Quartet's usual musical adventurousness makes for a very potent album.


Keith Jarrett -- Radiance (ECM)
This double-disc set captures Jarrett performing two solo concerts in Japan in 2002 -- one in Osaka and one in Tokyo. Jarrett's solo work ranges widely in style (sometimes within the same piece). Radiance is a seventeen movement work which confirms this, but also makes a persuasive case for the pianist's eclecticism. Passionate dissonances give way to pastoral rhapsodies; hymn-like elegies are set against run-filled jazz etudes. Part Three, a gentle ballad on which Jarrett plies sumptuous voicings and a yearning, almost wistful, lyricism, is particularly lovely. Really, though, this music isn't meant to be assimilated in short sound bytes. Radiance works best listened to whole, allowing the many shades of mood and color, and the many (and impressive) feats of Jarrett's pianism, to wash over you, like cooling summer rain.


Graham Collier -- Workpoints (Cuneiform)
Another two disc set, Workpoints explores large jazz ensembles, led by bassist Graham Collier. These concert recordings, taken from a 1968 performance in Southampton, England and one in Middleheim, Belgium in 1975, display some dazzling music that is both modern and swinging. The personnel (of both bands) is illustrious, including saxophonist John Surman, trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and trumpeter Harry Beckett. There are a number of extended pieces here. Most ambitious is the title work, a four-part, fifty-minute suite. "Workpoint Part One" includes hot saxophone charts, with brash tutti and stirring solos from Dave Aaron, Surman and Karl Jenkins. "Part Two" is a more freeform, modernist exploration, but it yields some interesting interactions and surprisingly sensitive deployments, given the relatively large group in this improvisational environment. Disc two's "Little Ben" is a fusion piece; electric pianist Roger Dean, Collier and drummer John Webb create a pliant and idiomatic rhythmic canvas. On top of this, guitarist Ed Speight contributes some fine jazz-rock solos. Workpoints' two concerts feature some fine music-making, and were well worth digging out of the vaults.


Meat Beat Manifesto -- At the Center (Thirsty Ear)
Meat Beat Manifesto's latest disc, recorded for Thirsty Ear's Blue Series, is an exciting mix of electronica and jazz. Multi-instrumentalist Jack Dangers, flautist Peter Gordon, drummer Dave King and pianist/keyboardist Craig Taborn combine acoustic instruments with electronics over a hip selection of beats. At the Center is a post modern jazz hybrid that references fusion, trip hop and outward-bound sounds.

"Wild" is a digressive, funk-styled composition. King's drums and Taborn's Fender Rhodes and Hammond licks take us back to the seventies, but Gordon's adventurous soloing blurs the genre edges; Dangers doubles on bass and bass clarinet, filling the low end with fluid interjections. "Flute Thang" also allows Gordon to show off his impressive avant chops. "Want Ads One" and "Wants Ads Two" feature a quirky sample: a 1957 recording of Kenneth Rexroth reading newspaper advertisements. "Musica Classica" is a strong ensemble piece; Dangers plays a sultry bass flute solo, while Taborn crafts layers of keyboard textures over King's propulsive drumming. The group switches into World Beat mode on "United Nations, etc. etc.", a polycultural composition with an atmospheric cast. Overall, it's a deft combination of tight rhythmic structures and diverse arrangements -- imaginative stuff.


Steven Lantner Trio -- The Blue Yonder (Skycap)
Pianist Steven Lantner, bassist Joe Morris and drummer Luther Gray tore it up at the Zeitgeist Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 3, 2004. The evidence is here on Blue Yonder, a recording of collective improvisations that features some inspired playing. Perhaps equally important, the Steven Lantner Trio is inspired at listening -- to each other. Free jazz -- performing, so to speak, "without a net" -- can easily be a forum for overlapping solos, where he who blows hardest gets the last word. That's not what the music here is about. On the title track, a tiny melodic gesture from Morris sets off Lantner's harmonic excursions, expanding from the same palette of intervals. Gray, on the other hand, is very careful to punctuate the rhythmic accents set up by that same incipient Morris gesture. Thus, from a tiny little motif, the music is off and running. It broadens with Lantner's solo; the pianist brings in octaves, clusters and limpid runs. Gray correspondingly digs into the cymbals. Even after nearly twelve minutes of playing, the denouement includes those little gestures that began the piece.

"If it Really Don't" starts off with an extended drum solo from Gray, filled with off kilter syncopations. When Morris and Lantner enter, they take up an almost Schoenbergian set of disjunctions, duplicating the unease created by Gray's syncopated shifts, but in pitch space, with angular dissonance and wide-leaping gestures. "Three of Four" plays with rhythm too, but in a more metric context. Lantner's soloing swings and even adopts the occasional bluesy riff. "Hold On To" is an uptempo, post-millennial bop number, with blindingly fast playing from both Morris and Lantner and steady articulation from Gray.

"Long Last" starts off with a mysterious vibe; Gray takes a more textural approach, while Lantner and Morris play a pensive melodic back and forth game. The tempo shifts faster; Lantner exploits more of the piano's compass, pitting block chords against wide leaps in his right hand. Morris also deals with registral shifts, sometimes playing walking figures down low, and at other times exploring a long line way up on the neck. Gray and Lantner lay out, while Morris takes a solo, filled with dancing rhythms. Lantner returns with chords from the misterioso opener, bringing the piece back in a kind of recapitulation. This time, however, limpid lines and some enigmatic polymodal chords make appearances, transforming the scene ever more reflectively. The piece ends with a gradual diminuendo. When it comes to spontaneous chamber music, this is one of my very favorite groups.

-- Christian Carey