William Parker

If theories of DNA as a living entity and the existence of hidden connections between the Manding culture of West Africa and the ancient Olmec civilization of Mexico are up your alley, this is the album for you. If that sounds like some far-out, esoteric stuff, then this is also the album for you. As Hidden‘s liner notes clearly show, jazz bassist William Parker is one heavy cat (he believes that “sound is light and light is sound” and asks us to imagine the sun pouring through “a cathedral made of light”), but he also throws together some infectious music that rides the rail between free jazz and warped Afro-Latin polyrhythmic glee. This is not the world music of those Putamayo compilations that you find at Starbucks. This is inner-space music that seeks to do nothing less than map out where the infinite resides within all of us and how to get there. Take two and pass? With this music, you won’t need to inhale a thing — take two listens and the head trip will last.