Drummer William Hooker is a constant traveler on the elevated plains of consciousness, and on Convergence: Live in China, he’s joined for some rich dialogues of blistering potency by guitarist John King. Recorded at the B10 Festival in Shenzhen, China, the hour-long performance is being released by ORG Music, with seven selections on the LP and three more on the CD, and completing the digital download. In totality, it is a whirlwind of powerhouse interaction.
Across the last half-century, drummer, bandleader, and composer William Hooker has risen and maintained his stature as one of the major figures in the fertile and diverse landscape of avant-jazz. A Connecticut-born West Coaster who migrated back East to emerge as part of the New York loft scene, he debuted on record with … Is Eternal Life, a 2LP set released in 1977 on Hooker’s own Reality Unit Concepts label.
Largely a live performance document that includes contributions from saxophonists David S. Ware and David Murray, … Is Eternal Life endures as a crucial document of undiluted exploratory jazz. It took Hooker a while to get another record out, Brighter Lights, released in 1984, also on Reality Unit Concepts, but once he hooked up with the terribly undersung Silkheart label, issuing Lifeline in 1988 and The Firmament Fury the following year, his release schedule picked up considerable momentum.
As it was for many persevering beacons of musical freedom, the 1990s were a discographical boom time for Hooker as he had a slew of stuff in the store racks courtesy of Homestead, Knitting Factory Works, Silkheart, and a bunch of one-shots on various labels, a remarkable stretch that continued deep into our current century.
Light The Early Years 1975-1989, a 4CD set that’s still available from NoBusiness Records, has its titular period covered, and there’s also A Time Within: Live at the New York Jazz Museum, January 14, 1977, which came out last year on vinyl through Valley of Search. The Silkheart releases can be accessed via the label’s Bandcamp, and the later material can be heard without too much difficulty.
A recurring aspect of Hooker’s output is his interest in tangling with guitarists including Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Elliott Sharp, Donald Miller, Brian Doherty, Dave Ross, Jesse Henry, Edward Ricart, Kiku Wada, David First, Letha Rodman, Ed Flynn, Dan Lilly, Jeffrey Shurdut, Bill Horist, Weasel Walter, Dave Soldier, Anthony Pirog, Hans Tammen, On Davis, Nels Cline, Ava Mendoza and on Convergence: Live in China, John King.
Thriving in the same New York City milieu that fostered Hooker, guitarist and composer King has been at it on recordings since the late 1980s, playing with such august figures as David Moss, Otomo Yoshihide, Mark Feldman, Conrad Harris, Pauline Kim, Guy Klucevsek, William Parker, Annea Lockwood, and John Zorn.
Amongst a bunch of records as leader, King had two CDs released on Zoen’s Tzadik label, AllSteel in 2006 and 10 Mysteries in 2010, both excellent. But the most killer of King’s more recent releases is Spherical, an archival trio studio session dating back to 1994 featuring Bernie Worrell and Cindy Blackman Santana that was unearthed by King and released on CD/LP last year by Infrequent Seams.
Most killer release, until now, for Convergence is an absolute monster of heightened musical discourse with consistently sharp edges and intertwinings of uncommon energy and sweetness. Hooker can thunder and scatter crisp patterns of abstract rhythmic action as strongly as ever, attaining plateaus that are truly titanic. And King can hit a sweet spot between the wailing noise skronk mania favored by many a NYC avant string-bender and spasms and spurts of rock-aligned expansiveness that never falters into clichéd form moves.
Any fan of the Rashied Ali/Frank Lowe mind-melter Duo Exchange will obviously want to hear the entirety of this doozy, but track seven brings the vinyl to a spectacular culmination. Convergence: Live in China is a smartly conceived release, adding another chapter to the stories of William Hooker and John King.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
