Leon Parker Belief
(Columbia)
reviewed by Louise Denson

This is a spare and engaging collection of original music (with the exception of an arrangement of In A Sentimental Mood ), featuring Tom Harrell (trumpet, flugelhorn); Steve Wilson (alto, soprano, flute); Steve Davis (trombone); and Adam Cruz, Nathalie Cushman, and Parker himself on a raft of percussion instruments, vocals, steel pans, piano and so on.

Wilson, Davis and Harrell all do some strong blowing, but the melodic materials on this collection are not that grippingly interesting; but then, they are not the point. The grooves are the point, and they are all HEAVY. Simple, spare, unembellished, no-nonsense grooves, cleanly recorded and down.

In the title cut, Belief, a swing melody and bass line are superimposed on an Afro-Cuban 6/8 groove played on congas and cowbell. This is a simple, yet brilliant, idea. Most musicians would tend to think that a straight-eighths, Afro-groove is worlds away from swing: unmeshable. But where did swing come from? It was African Americans who thought it up and developed it, after all . . .

Parker is the kind of musician who approaches music from a deep spiritual place, seeking meaning, seeking the roots, seeking in music the expression of a bond common to all humanity. This is a tall order, and whether you feel he has succeeded with this album or not, it's definitely worth a listen.

Louise Denson is a Montreal pianist/bandleader/composer.