Corridors & Parallels
Tenor saxophonist David S. Ware's quartet has become a key institution of the "ecstatic" movement--latter-day free jazz--delivering nonstop intensity with the leader's vast, harrowing wail, the complex detailing of pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist William Parker beneath, and the roll and tumble of a series of drummers.Corridors and Parallelsmaintains much of the band's heat, but breaks new ground with Shipp's shift to synthesizer. Whether it's the distancing effect of electronics or the suddenly broadened sound palette, the group is essentially reborn, pressing into fresh territory and touching on genres unheard in their previous work.Some of the tracks seem frankly experimental, testing the possibilities of the electro-acoustic relationship. "Straight Track" has Shipp developing a Sun Ra-like mix of the cosmic and the kitsch before Ware roots the music in his familiar, soulful expressionism. "Jazz Fi-Sci" further exploits that contrast with call and response between the acoustic trio of Ware, Parker, and drummer Guillermo E. Brown against Shipp's passages of burbling, skittering electronics. The music is far more compelling when the elements are integrated. "Superimposed" uses marimba-like programming to layer dense polyrhythms of electronics and percussion, creating an African-sourced field for Ware's sustained power. The title track is the most arresting, a brilliant amalgam of funk beats and Middle Eastern sonorities, with the bowed drone of Parker's bass bridging theshennai-like call of Ware's tenor and Shipp's own electronic figures. Occasionally, the results are more interesting than musically successful, but this is an important CD for both the quartet and the style that they center.--Stuart Broomer