I wrote earlier about the bassist Henry Grimes returning, impressively I might add, after more than three decades. When the folks who found Henry Grimes went looking for a bass for him after he told them he'd like to start playing again (he had sold his long ago for money to live), it was William Parker who came up with one.
Now, William Parker is not only a good human being, he's, to me anyway, the modern incarnation of Charles Mingus as a skilled bassist and, more importantly, one of the best group leaders going. (See "Mayor of Punkville" and "O'Neal's Porch" for two very good, and quite varied, examples.)
Trouble is, you often don't get to hear a lot of William Parker playing when he's leading a sizable group and that's a shame. Which is one reason I enjoy his recent release "Luc's Lantern," a trio with the excellent pianist Eri Yamamoto and drummer Michael Thompson. Parker's readily apparent on this and it's a pleasure to hear so much of him. The CD is also a little less "outside" than a lot of his stuff, so it's approachable for you free jazz agnostics. Definitely worth buying and you get the good feeling that comes with supporting a nice guy, too.
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