Search - William Parker :: Compassion Seizes Bed-Stuy

Should be 4 1/2!

Stephen | Virginia Beach, VA USA | 07/24/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"An excellent set by Parker's In Order to Survive Quartet. All songs are strong and the playing by Cooper Moore, Rob Brown and Susie Ibarra is excellent. The lower rating is in relation to The Peach Orchard (Aum Fidelity) and Possium Pendasem (FMP)."

Breathless

Matthew Watters | Vietnam | 08/06/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In its all-too-brief existence, William Parker's In Order to Survive was the greatest band in jazz. Beginning with the incredible bassist Parker, able to wring intense feeling and infinite variety from the double bass, add drummer Susie Ibarra, who supplies a constantly shifting array of skittery textures; pianist Cooper-Moore, who charges out of the school of Cecil Taylor; and alto sax player Rob Brown, who paints in smearing strokes across it all. All four of these astonishing improvisers shift in and out of the picture, forming duos and trios within the greater whole, and this music never stands still. The cover portrait of the band is an apt representation of their music's marvelously expressionist nature. It's ceaselessly probing, yearning and spiritual in the best tradition of Trane and Ayler. It flows directly from performances like "Cosmos" and "Evolution" on Trane's Live in Seattle album, but the players bring an even more subtle sense of group interaction. The subsequent two albums by In Order to Survive are documents of massive, extended improvisations, almost monumental in feeling, and The Peach Orchard is most highly recommended. But Compassion Seizes Bed-Stuy is the place to start. It's storming-the-citadel energy is unmatched."