Drake, Gahnold & Parker - The Last Dances

Kurt Gottschalk, AllAboutJazz

By 2002, Parker was well-recognized as a composer and bandleader and another important turn in his career had taken place: with drummer Hamid Drake, he had become a part of one of the most exciting and in-demand rhythm sections of the day.

With Drake he recalled the tradition of the rhythm section and where free jazz had long followed an every-man-for-himself dictum, Parker and Drake returned to the back line, working as a unit to set the stage for the horns.

Much of the time it was with players with whom they already had a history (most notably Fred Anderson and Kidd Jordan), but the record …and William Danced showed the duo’s strength by putting them behind a relative unknown.

Alto saxist Anders Gahnold is a bluesier player than most of their usual cohorts, casting a new light on the rhythm team (while it was released under the name “William Parker Trio”, it’s Gahnold’s record). It was released by Ayler Records, which has been pushing hard into the download world. The disc is out of print and available as a paid download on the label’s site, as is a new disc of recordings from the same session, this time under the more egalitarian “Drake/Gahnold/Parker”.

The four pieces are, as with Blue Shadows, every bit as strong as the original release. Parker’s ideas as a bandleader continue to flourish and as long as there are old tapes stowed in cupboards we won’t have to worry about missing his sideman days.