Daniel Carter, Matthew Shipp, William Parker and Gerald Cleaver: It’s a mouthful and also a very significant chunk of Downtown NYC royalty. Multi-horn master Carter goes back almost fifty years with the bass icon Parker and the innovative pianist Shipp about 35 years, and all three have recorded together on several occasions over the years. Now with the addition of the drum boss Cleaver, a great combination just got greater.
More than anything, Welcome Adventure! Vol. 1 shows how the introduction of just one new member into a stew of vets so familiar with each other radically changes the dynamics.
“Majestic Travel Agency” begins, perhaps unexpectedly, as a groove. That’s on Cleaver, who lays an unusual pulse underneath Shipp’s insistent note. Parker locates a precise pulse and before Carter even enters the picture, a unit fully integrated around this rhythm is formed. Carter just rides it nice and easy and as Cleaver pivots to a subtle snare roll, Shipp changes, too, densifying his phrasing. Ultimately, the song settles until a malleable mid-tempo gait, and as Carter and Shipp leisurely solo, Parker’s bass note placements are locked into Cleaver’s kick drum.
Carter is one of the very rare legit sax players who can slay it on the trumpet, too, and he’s doing just that on “Scintillate.” Just as he does on reed, he never forces out the phrasing, he lets it come to him instead. The rest of the guys put together a bluesy swing that’s for them uncharacteristically straight ahead but it’s the perfect feel the song calls for.
But Carter isn’t yet done pulling instruments out of his bag; “Ear-regularities” is a feature for his flute (and later, muted trumpet) and he engages in some nice give-and-take with Shipp. Listen deeper and you’ll hear William Parker alternately lock in tightly with Cleaver’s serpentine patters and then with a bow connect with Shipp. In truth, all three are interconnected in a way that couldn’t be synced better if it were scripted. Just as in “Majestic Travel Agency,” Parker discreetly twists the rhythm with a slight alteration to his bass pattern, Cleaver immediately picks up on it and adjusts accordingly, and before you know it, the song is transformed into something that’s rather funky. From there is a slow descent into something elegiac, with Carter playing an open trumpet with the sensitivity of Miles.
Note that the words “Volume 1” is in the album’s title. That’s right, Daniel Carter, Matthew Shipp, William Parker and Gerald Cleaver recorded two albums’ worth of material and word is that Volume 2 will be out, too, before long. Based on what I’m hearing on the first volume, it can’t come soon enough.
As for Welcome Adventure! Vol. 1, that’s dropping on June 5, 2020 courtesy of 577 Records. Pre-order the album from Bandcamp.
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