CARTER/WILLIAM PARKER/MATTHEW SHIPP, DANIEL - Seraphic Light (Live At Tufts University)

Seraphic Light was recorded live in the performance hall of Tufts University (Boston) in April 2017. These three masters each possess a complete & total devotion to the music. On this very rare trio meeting they manifest a meditative resonance, replete with lyrical exploration, throughout a sublime set. The concert was part of an event entitled Art, Race, and Politics in America. First was a screening of the 1959 documentary film, The Cry of Jazz. The film asserts jazz is the Negros cry of joy and suffering and the Negro is [white Americas] conscience...if they have a conscience. These bold and timely ideas pushed forward the second portion of the program, a discussion / Q&A with Carter, Parker, and Shipp. For 45 free-flowing minutes, these three men spoke truths, told stories, floated ideas, countered assertions, listened to questions, gave advice, told jokes, and laughed together. Having already established an honest and direct bond with the audience, they then seamlessly shifted their discussion to the musical dialogue presented here. While William Parker and Matthew Shipp are each deservedly world-renowned as players-improvisers-composers due to their extensive recording and performance work as leaders, Daniel Carter remains an underground figure on the world stage; even relatively so within New York City where he has been ceaselessly active since the mid-70s. He is a masterful player of deep lyricism and passion; in possession of gorgeous tone across a full range of wind instruments. Seraphic Light showcases Carter on all of these instruments and in a characteristic style in which his melodies prod and ply, concurrently asserting and suggesting. As he has recently entered his 7th decade of non-stop creation, it is hoped that this recording -- in the company of well-esteemed peers -- will go some measure to increase recognition of the gifts he has long offered. - Aum Fidelity.