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William Parker Trio - ... and William Danced

Dan Warburton, Paris Transatlantic

Previous Ayler releases, though musically outstanding, have been dogged by rather rough sound quality (rather like the label's eponymous hero's recorded output, come to think of it), so it's a real pleasure to see Jan Ström taking his artists into a studio for a top-notch session.

The ubiquitous Parker is joined by his frequent sparring partner Hamid Drake and Swedish altoist Anders Gahnold for a splendid sixty-six minutes of eminently danceable music (though nothing like the dismal acid jazz of the recent Black Cherry offering on Aum Fidelity, I hasten to add) - so much so that an undertaker working next door to the studio actually complained the music was "disturbing his clients" (!).

For those familiar with Parker and Drake's work (who isn't these days?), the music on the album won't come as any great surprise, but it's definitely worth the price of admission to check out the grainy, rubbery lyricism of Anders Gahnold.
This is the second time Ström has slipped a local Swedish player onto a visiting American star's album (his Arthur Doyle release last year also featured three tracks by Bengt Frippe Nordström), but I'm not complaining - Gahnold holds his own magnificently (what a thrill it must be to ride the Parker / Drake rhythm section).

Let's hope the Ayler label will soon issue more of Gahnold's early work with the late Johnny Dyani and Gilbert Matthews.