“Only a musician with Parker’s experience and mastery could have accomplished this.” – Dawoud 

An Album Review by Dawoud Kringle

Artist: The Chris Parker Quartet
Title: Heart of Mine
Label: M’Bubba Music
Genre: Jazz
Stream here: https://soundcloud.com/chris-parker-294697926

Veteran drummer/songwriter Chris Parker (or Toph, as his friends call him) has a resume that staggers the imagination. The Chicago native began playing drums at age three and played his first professional gigs at eleven. Parker began recording and touring with blues great Paul Butterfield and his band, Paul Butterfield’s Better Days, at nineteen.

By the 70s, Parker had broken into the New York studio scene and established himself as a seasoned session drummer.

A sample of the people he played with reads like a Who’s Who of American Music: The Brecker Brothers, Bob Dylan, Cher, Natalie Cole, Donald Fagen, Ashford and Simpson, Aretha Franklin, Freddie Hubbard, James Brown, Salt’ n’ Pepa, Stuff, Miles Davis, Paul Shaffer, Patti LaBelle, Michael Bolton, Michael Franks, Lou Rawls, Peter, Paul, & Mary, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Elvis Costello, Burt Bacharach, Ray Charles, Art Garfunkel, Mandrill, Michael Franks, Manhattan Transfer, Loudon Wainright III, Georgie Fame, The Saturday Night Live Band, Teddy Pendergrass, Bobbi Humphry, Phoebe Snow, Todd Rundgren, Earl Hooker, Don McLean, Miki Howard, Bonnie Raitt, Cornell Dupree, Marie Muldaur, Chaka Khan, Barry Manilow, Merl Saunders, Milton, Nascimento, Sinead O’Connor, Lionel Hampton, Eddie Palmieri, Robert Palmer, Gato Barbieri, Tony Bennett, and Quincy Jones.

Parker also played on the soundtracks for movies such as Beat Street, Bright Lights, Big City, Fame, Prelude to a Kiss, Searching for Bobby Fisher, China Girl, Hercules, The Wiz, The Warriors, Tootsie, The Untouchables, and Doc Hollywood.

It’s fitting to share a few kudos Parker received from a few fellow veterans: “One of the greats!” – Bob Dylan, “A natural drummer with a great feel for funk.” – Michael Brecker.

(Personally, I’d be interested in reading an autobiography by him. He must have some incredible stories.)

On Heart of Mine, Parker is joined by his trio: Ameen Saleem or Michael O’Brian on bass and pianist Kyoko Oyobe. Yuto Kanazawa‘s presence on guitar transforms the trio into a quartet.

From this beginning, Parker establishes this collection as a jazz album by a true jazz artist. He has nothing to prove, but still shows his mastery as a matter of course. With a background like this, expecting an excellent album is not unrealistic.

The album opens with “Bijou.” The guitar and piano offer a whimsical melody that shows its true jazz self with a samba-flavored groove moving it along. After O’Brien’s bass solo, the arrangement takes on more complex permutations. Kanazawa’s guitar solo teases us with intricate question-and-answer with the band before the whimsical melody at the beginning returns and brings it to a close.

“Long, Long Summer” reveals an easy groove in an almost Horace Silver vein. Oyobe offers a tasteful piano solo ideally suited to the composition’s essence. 

Parker dials things up a notch with “I Need Your Love.” He does not deviate from his signature style of composition and arranging, but reveals a new contour within it. There is something indefinably inviting about the piece, as if it were more of a personal message than a jazz composition.

“Sermonette” has a playfulness that almost defies the textbook definition of the title. It is as if the Gospel was reinvented by a New Orleans Dixieland band that took a somber funeral service and turned it into a joyful occasion. 

The title track, “Heart of Mine,” has a feel similar to “Sermonette,” and the album continues to manifest jazz in all its glory. “South Washington Street Parade” shows a casual seriousness. “Nutty Freedom” is precisely that. And “Sempre Grato” is, as the title suggests, an expression of heartfelt gratitude. 

This reveals something important about this entire album. There is little deviation from the canon of jazz as a musical entity and tradition. The technical wizardry is understated, yet quite evident (now and again, one hears something and says, “What the hell was that?”). However, the technical mastery and flawless performances of the quartet are not just recreations and explorations of standard jazz stylings. What is truly remarkable is that Parker and company have succeeded in using jazz as a language that tells a story and creates a mood.

For Parker, jazz is not a genre but a living entity. It’s a conversation, a gathering of friends discussing the meaning of life. Only a musician with Parker’s experience and mastery could have accomplished this.