trageser.com
Music Review

Home
Computers
Book Reviews and Reading Diary
CD Buying Guide and Music Links
Best-of lists
CD Reviews
CDs, sorted by Style
CDs, sorted by year issued
CDs, sorted by publication review ran in
CDs by San Diego bands
All CDs, sorted by band name
All CDs, sorted by album title
Interviews
Favorite quotations
Contact Me



Percussion, integrated

Belief
Belief
By Leon Parker

Columbia Records: 1996

Buy it on CD now from Amazon.com
Buy it now


This review first appeared in the October 25, 1996 issue of the North County Times.

Whoa – what is this? Who is this? That's gotta be a common reaction to anyone hearing this album for the first time.

"Who" is Leon Parker, drummer. "What" is a whirling, swirling, percussion-based jazz with strains of Tony Williams and Paulinho da Costa, Buddy Rich and Mongo Santamaria.

Parker takes hand drums and other percussion from around the world and incorporates them into his music so fully, so naturally that instruments like ashiko, dumbek and congas are not the gimmicks they often are in other bands, but instead bring different shades to the driving beat that frames every song on "Belief." (And where else can you hear Duke Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood" arranged as a Latin dance number with a steel drum playing the lead and hand claps providing the dominant rhythmmic figure?)

The result is that this is one of those albums that kinda gets stuck in the stereo, an album that forces you to finally figure out how to use the "repeat" feature on your CD player. It's much more than just a showcase for Parker's considerable drumming skills; it's a complete package of oustanding compositions and great horn playing on top of his always intriguing, swinging backbeat.