For Percy Heath

Bassist William Parker operates within a tradition that nourishes and sustains him as fully and consistently as he gives back to it in his own non-linear manner. Parker's creative philosophy and extraordinary relationship with his instrument stem directly from his studies with master improvisers Richard Davis, Jimmy Garrison, and Wilbur Ware, and in 2006 he dedicated an entire album to the memory and influence of Percy Heath (1923-2005). Naturally enough, Parker did not emulate or imitate Heath's straightforward collaborations with John Lewis and the MJQ, or his later accomplishments in the mainstream of jazz with his brothers Jimmy and Albert "Tootie" Heath. Perhaps Percy's most significant involvement with free-spirited modern musicians took place during the summer of 1960 when he recorded with Don Cherry, Ed Blackwell, and John Coltrane. (For those wishing to savor Heath's work as a member of that never-to-reassemble quartet, he may be heard on three of the five tracks from the Atlantic album The Avant-Garde" The bassist heard on the other two is Charlie Haden.) Sounding in part like Coltrane's Ascension or Cherry's Symphony for Improvisers, Parker's For Percy Heath is a four-part suite actuated by the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra, here consisting of three trumpeters, three trombonists, three reed players, tuba, drums, and bass. Parker cites the formation of his first Little Huey ensemble in 1994 as a major turning point in his life as a musician. For Percy Heath compares beautifully with Parker's other large ensemble recordings, which include "Sunrise in the Tone World," "Mayor of Punkville," "Raincoat in the River," and "Double Sunrise Over Neptune." The first two segments of For Percy Heath are charged with positive ions resulting from the free exchange of intuitively guided improvisational ideas. The third movement includes passages suggestive of a collective rumination on ballad structure, while during the fourth and final portion of the ritual, Parker engages in arco flights of transformational intensity. Here the instrument is made to tell of its legacy, summoning visions of a boundless inheritance and a cosmic power capable of transcending conventional notions of what music is, why it is played, and why we listen.