The Ancients – The Ancients 2LP

Description

**WILLIAM PARKER / ISAIAH COLLIER / WILLIAM HOOKER trio!

Arriving in North America on Eremite, the debut recording by The Ancients, the intergenerational coalition ofIsaiah Collier,William Hooker, andWilliam Parkerformed by Parker to play concerts in conjunction with theMilford GravesMind Body Dealexhibition at the Institute Of Contemporary Art Los Angeles and now a working group. Across 2 LPs of side-length long-form improvised sets recorded at 2220 Arts and Archives in LA and The Chapel in San Francisco, The Ancients bring the free jazz trio languages first explored by theCecil Taylor UnitandOrnette Coleman‘sGolden Circle Band(expanded upon in later eras bySam Rivers‘ trio and Parker’s collective trios withCharles Gayle/Graves andPeter Brtzmann/Hamid Drake) into their own unique and scintillating realms of expression. As we tumble further into the throes of history’s tides, people of hope and creativity rely on the works of our great artists to lift our spirits and focus our resolve.Ascensionwas recorded less than a year after the passage of the Civil Rights Act and four months after the assassination ofMalcolm X.Journey in Satchidanandawas recorded the month Reagan was re-elected governor of California.M’Boommade its debut recording weeks after the Watergate scandal broke and a couple months after the Wounded Knee occupation ended. The music of The Ancients builds on these great musical legacies. It resounds with the pride of survival and the joys of making and sharing music. It delivers to us hope and balm. Something real in you, real in history, and real in the music is shared, right on time. When Eremite records commenced operations during the 1990s free jazz resurgence, heavyweight freedom-seeking tenor saxophonists such asFred Anderson, Peter Brtzmann, Charles Gayle,Kidd Jordan, andDavid S. Warewere at the height of their powers.Isaiah Collier‘s tenor playing in The Ancients is bracing testimony that the wellspring lives on. To hear the young Chicago firebrand blowing freely with veteran improvisers in an entirely open-form group music is a revelatory study of his vast talent, personal voice, and the intensity of his expression — as well as a bold complement to his composition-based albums as a bandleader (includingThe Almighty, a New York Times’ best albums of 2024 selection). I’ve admired drummer William Hooker since first encountering his music in a Hartford, CT, city park, early ’90s (on a double bill withJerry GonzlezandFort Apache Band). From the man himself right off the bandstand I bought his even-then rare first recording, the 1976 self-released 2LP opusIs Eternal Life(reissued 2019 by Superior Viaduct). An imposing force on his instrument and an intrepid DIY cat, Hooker’s been exuberantly swinging in-and-out of free time for 50+ years. Informed by the innovations ofSunny MurrayandTony Williamsyet entirely himself, there is no other term for it than “pure Hooker.” At age 78, with the Ancients and everywhere else, THE HOOK is in peak form. With a discography approaching 600 entries and 50+ years working across the musical maps, including in the history-defining bands ofDon Cherry, Cecil Taylor,Bill Dixon, Peter Brtzmann, in his own wondrous ensembles from small group to orchestra to opera, a bastion of compassionate leadership and a poetic champion of his musical community, in tireless service to what he rather egolessly refers to as “the tone world,” multi-instrumentalist, improviser and composer William Parker is a living hero of the grassroots and the Black Mystery Musics, not to mention one of the great bassists in the history of jazz. To quoteGeorge Clinton, conquering the stumbling blocks comes easier when the conqueror is in tune with the infinite. Free jazz is an enduring high art. Its greatest expressions belong to their particular moment in history, and live on to transcend and refract in amaranthine ways. Inside our present historical moment, we are fortunate to have the master musicians in the ancients bringing us their high-level creation. First Eremite edition of 1,299 copies pressed on premium audiophile-quality 140gram vinyl at Fidelity Record pressing, fromKevin Gray/Cohearent audio lacquers. Live to 2-track concert recordings byBryce Gonzales, Highland Dynamics. Mastered byJoe Lizzi, Queens, NY. Album and concerts co-produced with The Black Editions Group.