Daniel Carter, Matthew Shipp, William Parker and Gerald Cleaver Make Free Jazz Modern on 'Welcome Adventure! Vol. 1'

BY Daniel SylvesterPublished Jun 8, 2020

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In addition to collaborating with El-P, Thurston Moore and Yo La Tengo, multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter is mostly known for his works with avant-jazz pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist William Parker. Following up their celebrated 2018 release Seraphic Light, the trio have added Detroit drummer Gerald Cleaver to release the live-recorded Welcome Adventure! Vol. 1. As you'd expect from Shipp and Parker, much of this three-track, 38-minute improv record comes off exceedingly modern, playing off the second generation of free jazz, while adding the attitude of no wave and structures of post-rock.

On the exterior, much of Welcome Adventure! Vol. 1 sounds somewhat tame as the first two tracks, "Majestic Travel Agency" and "Scintillate," come off as if the quartet are warming up for the album's 20-minute finale, save for Cleaver's beautifully racketed drum sound. Luckily "Ear-regularities" pulls the LP together with Carter moving between flute, saxophone and trumpet while Shipp lays down cool cacophonous keys reminiscent of late-career Cecil Taylor.

The addition of "Vol. 1" to the album's title gives listeners a glimmer of hope that Carter, Shipp, Parker and Cleaver can transform this collaboration into something even more "out there."
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