William Parker Quartets - Meditation / Resurrection

2023 repress with new packaging. 'Meditation / Resurrection' is a double-album presenting a bounty of beautiful William Parker compositions performed by two of his flagship ensembles, with extensive notes by William Parker.

At the core of both groups is Parker's foundational bass together with rhythm twin, drummer Hamid Drake. Their partnership - two decades deep now - is one of the greatest in the history of drums and bass. Alto saxophonist Rob Brown - a supremely gifted improviser, as is every musician here - is likewise present throughout.

Pianist Cooper-Moore features on CD2. He has been a very significant catalyst in the world of creative music for over 40 years. Cooper-Moore will be the Lifetime Achievement Honoree at the 2017 edition of the Vision Festival, NYC. Trumpeter Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson appears on CD1, he is a major figure in his own right as a composer of modern classical and world music.

William Parker's exceptional gift as a composer of beautiful melodies and infectious rhythms have long been intrinsic to his art, and it has always been on full display in the work of the quartets featured here. Being that these groups are among the highest calibre jazz bands of our time, Parker's luminous compositions are brought to blossom into vibrant kaleidoscopes of sound.

One of jazz's greatest, most prolific and most versatile bandleaders.. - JazzTimes

Few bands in jazz swing harder in more ways than Parker's working band of the past 16 years. They don't just play a tune, they inhabit it, they sink foundations in it and build homes, pave roads, plant crops. The music is their world. - Point of Departure