| Piercing the Veil | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 2001 | |||
| Recorded | April 3, 2000 Systems Two Studio, Brooklyn, NY | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Label | AUM Fidelity AUM 017 (Reissue AUM 039/40) | |||
| Producer | William Parker | |||
| William Parker chronology | ||||
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Piercing the Veil is an album by bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake, which was recorded in 2000 and originally released on the AUM Fidelity label. [1] [2] The album was later reissued in 2007 as a 2-CD set adding the live recording First Communion. [3]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| PopMatters |   [5] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [6] |
In his review for AllMusic, Tom Schulte said the album featured "stunning, unexpected twists of Byzantine rhythms one would expect from such a free thinking rhythm section without other instruments". [4] The All About Jazz review noted "Piercing the Veil excels because it embraces what should be conventional and tired. It is "world music" made wondrous". [7]
The All About Jazz review of expanded edition noted "First Communion is a spontaneously creative and intimate epic. Parker and Drake may call the contrabass and trap drums their primary instruments, but 2001's Piercing the Veil offered the full range of the duo's musical vocabulary, including a showcase for Parker's affection for exotic double-reeds". [8] PopMatters stated "Among the finest and most accessible recordings made by “free players” in recent years is Piercing the Veil by the duo of bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake. You can tell it’s a bunch of kooky-crazy out-jazz because—“What?! Just drums and acoustic bass and no ‘real’ instruments!?” And then you listen and what you hear is: swing, groove, excitement, melody, and beauty. And you thought you didn’t like “free jazz”. Piercing the Veil has now been reissued along with a live concert recorded the previous day, First Communion—a glorious release that reminds fans how good the original 1999 disc was". [5]
All compositions by William Parker and Hamid Drake
Bonus CD with 2007 Reissue: First Communion
William Parker is an American free jazz double bassist. Beginning in the 1980s, Parker played with Cecil Taylor for over a decade, and he has led the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra since 1981. The Village Voice named him "the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time" and DownBeat has called him "one of the most adventurous and prolific bandleaders in jazz".
Other Dimensions in Music is an American free jazz group founded in the 1980s.
AUM Fidelity is an independent record label in New York City primarily devoted to avant-garde jazz artists such as William Parker, Matthew Shipp, and David S. Ware. It has also released recordings by improvisational rock band Shrimp Boat and exclusively distributes the CaseQuarter and Riti labels. It was founded in 1997 by former Homestead Records label manager Steven Joerg.
Hamid Drake is an American jazz drummer and percussionist.
David Spencer Ware was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.
O'Neal's Porch is an album by American jazz double bassist William Parker, which was recorded in 2000 and originally released in a limited edition on the on Centering label and given a wider release on the AUM Fidelity label.
Sound Unity is a live album by American jazz double bassist William Parker, which was recorded in 2004 and originally released on the AUM Fidelity label.
Double Sunrise Over Neptune is a live album by American jazz musician and composer William Parker, which was recorded in 2007 and originally released on the AUM Fidelity label. Though best known as a bassist, Parker on this album plays various ethnic double reed instruments and the African stringed instrument doussn'gouni.
I Plan to Stay a Believer is a double live album by American jazz bassist William Parker, which was recorded between 2001 and 2008 and released on the AUM Fidelity label.
Painter's Spring is an album by American jazz bassist and composer William Parker's Trio, featuring saxophonist Daniel Carter and drummer Hamid Drake, which was recorded in 2000 and released on the Thirsty Ear label.
The Peach Orchard is a double live album by American jazz bassist William Parker and his group In Order to Survive, which was recorded at various venues in New York City in 1997-98 and released on the AUM Fidelity label.
Summer Snow is an album by bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake, which was recorded in 2005 and released on the AUM Fidelity label. The album is the second volume of duets by the pair following Piercing the Veil (2001).
Corn Meal Dance is an album by American jazz bassist and composer William Parker's Raining on the Moon, which was recorded in 2007 and released on the AUM Fidelity label.
Petit Oiseau is an album by the William Parker Quartet, recorded in December 2007 and released on October 14, 2008 on AUM Fidelity.
Essence of Ellington is a double live album by bassist and composer William Parker's Orchestra, which was recorded in Italy in 2012 and released on the Centering label. The album features new arrangements of songs written by or associated with Duke Ellington in addition to new songs by Parker.
Live at Glenn Miller Café Vol 1 is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc, which was recorded in Stockholm and released on Ayler Records, a Swedish label founded by Jan Ström and Åke Bjurhamn. Moondoc leads a trio with bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake. The rhythm section had recorded the studio album ...and William Danced a few hours earlier with local saxophonist Anders Gahnold.
New World Pygmies vol. 2 is a double album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc and bassist William Parker, which was recorded live in 2000 and released on the Eremite label. The first disc documents a duo performance from Madison, while the second includes guest drummer Hamid Drake from a Chicago set at the Velvet Lounge.
Altitude is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris which was recorded live in 2011 and released on the AUM Fidelity label. It documents the first time performance by Morris, bassist William Parker and drummer Gerald Cleaver as a trio during a two-week of dates curated at John Zorn's club The Stone by label owner Steven Joerg. For the second set, excerpted in the final two cuts of the album, Parker played sintir, the Moroccan bass lute, instead of upright bass. All the tracks are collective and completely improvised.
Never Too Late But Always Too Early is a two-CD live album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, bassist William Parker, and drummer Hamid Drake. It was recorded in April 2001 at Casa del Popolo in Montréal, and was released in 2003 by Eremite Records. The album is dedicated to Peter Kowald.
Die Like a Dog: Fragments of Music, Life and Death of Albert Ayler is a live album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, trumpeter Toshinori Kondo, bassist William Parker, and drummer Hamid Drake. It was recorded in August 1993 at Townhall Charlottenburg in Berlin, and was released in 1994 by FMP. The group, which would go on to tour and make multiple recordings, became known as the Die Like a Dog Quartet.
