Heart Trio

On May 1, 2021, creative multi-instrumentalists William Parker, Cooper-Moore, and Hamid Drake entered a Brooklyn recording studio with engineer Jim Clouse and emerged with Heart Trio, a soulfully rendered set of seven instrumentals keyed into rhythms from across the globe, with a commitment to healing through sound. Drake used only his frame drums and kit, and Cooper-Moore played an ashimba, an 11-tone xylophone -- the first of the many instruments hes built -- and his "hand hoe harp," also self-created. Parker eschews his bass in favor of a donso ngoni(hunters harp), bass doumbek, and shakuhachi, ney, and Serbian flutes. These musicians undertake a creative quest, melding improvisation, collective composition, and ritualistic polyrhythms. It is as soothing as it is intense and spiritually resonant throughout. While the collectives music is masterful, it also elevates the listening ground, allowing the listener deep into their intimate dialogue. Short opener "Atman" weds various flutes, frame drums, and percussion in an incantatory sonic ritual. "Five Angels by the Stream" opens in full circular vamp with donso ngoni (it sounds like a cross between a gimbri and an oud), as Cooper-Moores ashimba establishes a complementary rhythm to Drakes skittering kit. This mantra-like repetition evolves ever so slightly in rhythmic patterns. Set highlight "Mud Dance" commences with the clarinet-like ney. The popping polyrhythms from Cooper-Moore and Drake are conversational, framing and buoying Parkers intricate soloing. "Serbia" is essentially a frenetic rhythm orgy, with pulsing Serbian flute and the marimba-esque frame drum. "Kondo" is the albums longest track, and its suite-like in flow. (Its likely titled after famed jazz trumpeter Toshinori Kondo, who died in 2020.) Wordless chanting vocals intertwine with percussion, hand hoe harp, and douso ngoni. The vocals trade lines, adding another rhythmic palette, as stringed instruments thread through one another creating sonorous textural development amid spacey modal grooves. "For Rafael Garrett" is offered in tribute to the late Chicago multi-instrumentalist Donald Rafael Garrett. The trio constructs a bridge whose poles are restraint and exuberance. Closer "Processional" sounds exactly like its title. Over nine-plus minutes, it explores the rhythmic and harmonic balance between order and rigidity. It sounds relaxed, however, as the trio joins shimmering metallic percussion with the natural reverb of the douso ngoni and the harp. The organically percussive nature of Heart Trios music underscores a pristine natural flow in group creativity. These three men have known one another for decades; their near symbiotic expression joins subtlety to inimitable creativity. These hallmarks of Heart Trio create a sense of natural beauty, warmth, spiritual longing, and empathy. This album elevates this trio to peerage with Codona, Don Cherry, and Joshua Abrams Natural Information Society. This is one of 2024s most important recordings. ~ Thom Jurek