The Peach Orchard
The Peach Orchardis a generously proportioned document of a crack band in action. Its eight lengthy performances (the shortest lasts about 11 minutes, the longest about 25 minutes) were recorded in concerts at three different venues in New York City, the quartet's home. Each of bandleader William Parker's compositions honors an event or an individual. The title track, which laments the subjugation of the Navajo nation, counterposes static figures for Parker's double bass and Cooper-Moore's piano; Rob Brown's fevered alto cries and Susie Ibarra's dynamic drumming alternately pull the monoliths apart and drive them back together. "Moholo," "Theme for Pelikan," and "Three Clay Pots" pay tribute to fellow artists and musicians. Both Brown and Cooper-Moore extrapolate from the latter's swaggering, boppish melody into giddy, breakneck forays driven by the rhythm section's geothermal pressure. There are plenty of authoritative solos, but this music isn't about strutting one's stuff; Parker conceives of it as a redemptive, consciousness-altering force, and each impassioned statement contributes to that goal.--Bill Meyer