Double Sunrise Over Neptune: Live At Vision Festival Xii

WILLIAM PARKER: Double Sunrise over Neptune
AUM Fidelity, 2008

AVANT-GARDE WORLD-JAZZ – Recorded live at the 2007 Vision Festival, this is a mystical extended work for 16 musicians. The music breathes, with global instrumentation contrasting orderly riffs and free-jazz invention, as the lovely voice of North Indian vocalist Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay gently wraps up the whole ensemble. Parker plays reeds and the African doson’ngoni rather than bass. An awesome disc.

Note: Tracks 1 & 4 are the same piece, recorded on different days. The track names were added later and reflect the spirit of each performance.

Fo’s Picks: 1, 2, 4

1. 15:08 – steady bassline, forward motion: overlapping melodic phrases create shifting textures; then Sangeeta sings a mystic poem (by Parker) as the music undulates below, rises to consume her, and gradually falls away; turbulent ending is a mass of plucked strings.

2. 27:18 – begins with surging ensemble over strolling bassline, strong braying reeds, then settles into a calmer Afro-Asian sound. There’s a lot more soloing here than in #1. Vocal mantra is followed by an improvisation on Persian syllables. Cacophony in final 5 minutes.

3. 00:37 – rhythmic fragment

4. 22:39 – same piece as #1: faster tempo, more playful feel, individual voices stand out more, vocals come in later and are more improvisational.

[ Fo ] 10-Aug-08