Help
Skip to main content

Mayan Space Station

William Parker

Awards:

The title track may best exemplify Parker's electric guitar trio philosophy. With Cleaver laying down a chugging forward pulse, Parker first pulls handfuls of notes from his bass before applying...

Mayan Space Station

William Parker

Purchase product

Vinyl Record

$31.75

This item is currently out of stock at the UK distributor. You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched.

Awards:

The title track may best exemplify Parker's electric guitar trio philosophy. With Cleaver laying down a chugging forward pulse, Parker first pulls handfuls of notes from his bass before applying...

About

Composer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, griot, improviser and community leader William Parker presents a pair of brand new trio albums which further expound on his limitless vision. One of the iconic and enduring music leaders to emerge in the world over the last half century, William Parker continues to raise the bar higher.

'Mayan Space Station' is his first electric guitar trio album, and features Parker on bass, alongside Ava Mendoza (electric guitar), and Gerald Cleaver (drums). Cosmic multi-hued blues, perfect for space and time travel. The unparalleled rhythmic firmament created by Parker & Cleaver is matched by Mendoza in full flight. All of the promise imagined by a trio recording of these musicians with compositions by Parker is delivered to the fullest.

Mendoza's prodigious talents have illuminated many projects and recordings as both leader and collaborator over the past decade. As is certainly clear here, she is committed to bringing expressivity, energy and a wide sonic range to the music. Gerald Cleaver is an exceptionally gifted poet of drum sound who can play in the deepest of pockets and manifest all manner of sound to perfectly fit contours within the most open of forms. Cleaver & Parker have worked closely on numerous projects, notably within the nonpareil full-improvising trio, Farmers By Nature, together with Craig Taborn. William Parker is in vibrant grandmaster blossom here on double bass - in both pizzicato & bow-as-prism modes.

William Parker: bass, compositions

Ava Mendoza: electric guitar

Gerald Cleaver: drums

Contents and tracklist

1. Tabasco

2. Mayan Space Station

3. Domingo

4. Canyons of Light

Awards and reviews

  • Stereogum
    Best Jazz Albums of 2021

9th June 2021

The title track may best exemplify Parker's electric guitar trio philosophy. With Cleaver laying down a chugging forward pulse, Parker first pulls handfuls of notes from his bass before applying his bow to cast dense energy fields across this nearly fifteen minutes of exuberance. All the while, Mendoza is casting psychoacoustic soundings of dynamic positiveness to the world. Rockers say "Amen." So do the psychedelic and spiritual jazzers.

September 2021

On Mayan Space Station, [Ava] Mendoza is really out front, stating themes and improvising extensively as the Parker-Cleaver axis rotates and finds points of emphasis and restraint well attuned to the peaks and troughs that she creates.
View download progress