Rating: NNNN
It’s debatable whether you can even call this one-off shakedown between New York bass titan William Parker and maverick percussionist Hamid Drake a jazz recording. Sure, the two usually play in jazz ensembles, but Piercing The Veil is much more than that. The opener, Black Cherry, begins as a funky bass-and-drums tune, but then the project veers off the path. Parker switches to wind instruments and rattling hand percussion, Drake starts rattling bells and tables, and the result is a record that skips around the world, from Brazil to West Africa, up to Cairo and then back to Brooklyn. No two tracks sound the same, and it’s hard to tell who’s doing what. It’s no surprise that Volume 2 will be a remix project.
