Cheap Scrapbook (Music) (William Parker) Price

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Customer Reviews of Scrapbook

Excellent jazz, improvised and flowing
William Parker and Hamid Drake again set the pace, this time with Billy Bang providing gorgeous jazz violin. Another one to check out is the trio with Roy Campbell as the named leader on Ethnic Stew and Brew on the Delmark label. These cats (or lions) are providing some great jazz that has its eye on the past and its feet firmly in the present.

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What a waste of time......
....being at work when I could be at home listening to this.

Superb. Totally agree that this is the jazz album of the year so far. I'm itching to get back home and listen to it again.
The Blue Series continues to release excellent stuff. How refreshing not to be reaching for back catalogues of established artists from years ago but instead to be thoroughly entertained by music that is all new and innovative.
The music on this CD is perhaps more accessible than some of the other titles in this series. The three musicians are so in tune with one another that the improvised nature of the music almost disappears. Everything just seems to flow and fit together beautifully. The last time I felt like this about a record was probably Kind of Blue and that was a long long time ago!

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Junkmedia.org Review - Jazz album of the year ... so far
Thirsty Ear, currently the jazz label to look to for innovation, has lately blazed a modest trend out of releasing music that often has one foot in cross-over funk and hip-hop, as well as a small group of releases that favor a more improvisational esthetic. William Parker's Scrapbook fits into the latter category. This is not to say the record doesn't occasionally groove, but it is so much more than that. The playing captures improvisation of the highest order, almost telepathic in its intensity.

Bassist Parker and drummer Hamid Drake make up one of the finest rhythm sections currently operating in today's "free jazz" scene. Empathetic to each other's contortions, it is a joy to hear them play off of each other. The pair achieves the same level of interplay between them as that found in classic performances by Charles Mingus and Dannie Richmond; there really is no higher compliment to a rhythm section.

Add to this duo the incredibly diverse violin stylings of Billy Bang and you've got a trio that can do almost anything. They cover an astonishing amount of ground, including blues vamps, swaggering funk, melodic swing, ballad lamentations, sprightly folk tunes and knotty free jazz, sometimes all within the same piece.

What separates Scrapbook from others of its ilk is the listening -- that is, the musicians' ability to listen to each other. This isn't simply a guest star soloist wanking over set changes to a static rhythm section, this record captures listening and reacting by seasoned pros. It is what real jazz is all about.

For what might seem a limited sonic palette, with only an acoustic bass, violin and trap set at their disposal, these three conjure a sonic world far removed from its austere beginnings. At times rough and acerbic, at others sweet and delicate, this is a studio session bound to become a classic. I try not to make grandiose statements like this lightly, but this album demands to be heard by all those interested in the finest contemporary jazz. Jazz album of the year ... so far...