When I heard that Aaron Parks was coming out with a brand new record, Little Big, my thoughts drifted to that forward-looking record he made ten years ago. Invisible Cinema was an earnest attempt to get younger people to embrace jazz by deftly incorporating elements of music that they already embrace, i.e., indie rock. Since then, a lot of the current crop of jazz musicians have been doing this but pianist and composer Parks was one of the first and the passage of time has only made him look more like a visionary.
After a solo piano album and an acoustic trio encounter during a stint with ECM Records, Parks is finally following up on those cutting edge ideas of a decade ago. Little Big (Ropeadope Select) is his ‘back to the future’ of jazz but with a all-new crew of Greg Tuohey on electric guitar, DJ Ginyard on electric bass and Tommy Crane behind the drum kit, a quartet which Parks has dubbed, well, ‘Little Big.’ And electronics are lurking everywhere but don’t overtake the songs nor their performance of them. Most of these tunes — all composed by Parks — are undertaken with plenty of looseness to allow the story to unfold at its natural pace. These are really jams but with compositions that are better thought out and the careful modulation that can only come from jazz musicians.
As with Cinema, Parks seems to make all the right decisions on where it’s best to deploy his piano and where the plugged-in gear does more for the song. But also credit the insight to bring in engineers with indie rock bonafides — Daniel Schlett and Chris Taylor — to record and mix the recordings. They give Little Big the heart of indie rock to go along with its head of jazz.
“Kid” sets the tone from the start. It’s constructed around a relentless piano riff accompanied by increasingly agitated drums and a threatening, caustic guitar. Contemporary intonations are everywhere but that piano stays the focal point, except for a cutting exchange between Tuohey and Parks on a distorted electric piano.
Tuohey keeps his guitar tone acerbic and resonant in much the same way Kurt Rosenwinkel does (Parks is a key member of Rosenwinkel’s New Quartet), bonding often with Parks’ piano on lead motifs to create unison lines that stand out. On the somewhat brighter “Small Planet,” those unison runs ring in the chorus, progressing into a trill by Parks. Electronics initially take on a prominent role for “The Trickster,” where Tuohey traces synth lines instead of piano ones. There’s a peaceful groove that defines this tune — though not without tension — and the guitarist does great work in his lead role modulating an extended solo. “Digital Society” is a well-syncopated construction pulling together the acoustic piano with electric guitar and a percolating synth over an airtight rhythm section; Tuohey invests a lot of passion into his forceful guitar lead. “Bells,” “Rising Mind” and “Good Morning” continue that pattern to great effect, with the latter an anthemic march that almost imperceptibly gets louder and heavier.
The Crane/Ginyard groove unit takes charge on the futuristic spy thriller soundtrack music “Professor Strangeweather,” with both Parks and Tuohey making wonderfully weird noises. “Aquarium” continues the prescription of spacious sonority as Parks’ electric piano paints bright splotches of colors. “Mandala” is searching, using the synthesizer as an instrument to probe than merely soloing for soloing’s sake.
Parks also displays his flair for penning shapely strains. He plays a nimble gospel piano on “Lilac” that even with its lack of any backing fits into indie rock vibe of the album because of its moving melody. “Siren” demonstrates Parks’ acumen in composing a compelling piano ballad but unlike “Lilac,” does so within the context of the whole band, and “Doors Open” is another quietly powerful ballad.
The fresh ideas that Aaron Parks offered up in his debut album ten years ago are still sounding awfully state-of-the-art today. Little Big might not be the direction jazz is currently headed, but it should be.
Little Big drops on October 19, 2018.
