Simple Life
Percussionist and drummer Leon Parker is a rare musician. He is fluent in the drum languages of jazz, Afro-Caribbean, and African musical forms. That's what made him a valued sideman with Jacky Terrasson, Joshua Redman, and Charlie Hunter, and an exceptional bandleader in his own right. This CD reunites Parker with producer Joel Dorn, the well-traveled man-about-jazz who discovered him in the early '90s. Joined by tenor and alto saxophonists Sam Newsome and Steve Nelson, bassist Ugonna Okegwo, pianists Xavier Davis and Terrasson, percussionist Stephen Chopek, and an exciting French-African vocalist named Elizabeth Kontomanou, Parker's minimalist drum set and various handheld instruments dominate this dancing and diverse CD. Parker can swing anything, as evidenced by his human beat-box rendition the Ellington/Tizol standard "Caravan," laced with Kontomanou's sub-Saharan, Sarah Vaughan-like sonorities, and the Cubafied live take of Parker's "Belief." Thelonious Monk's "Green Chimneys" is given a thorough, New Orleans second-line treatment, and Okegwo's hypnotic ostinatos on "Divinity Pt. 1" and "Divinity Pt. 2" beautifully counterpoint Kontomanou's Afrocentric vocals and Parker's motherland pulses. Today's politicians should study how Leon Parker bridges cultures with his unique brand of drum diplomacy.--Eugene Holley Jr.