William Hooker - Big Moon (Org Music, 2021)

Please note: the review will be followed with an interview tomorrow.

By Nick Metzger

Big Moon might be William Hooker’s most intriguing album to date, and I really hesitate to say that because he’s been part of some really, really intriguing records over the years. This one finds the master improviser wielding a large ensemble and serving double duty as both chief percussionist and conductor. The format allows the music to manifest naturally and uninhibited as Hooker, much like the eponymous celestial body, exerts his steady but subtle pull, either directly through instruction or passively through his drum kit. The band on this stellar release is composed of saxophonists Stephen Gauci and Sarah Manning, pianists Mara Rosenbloom and Mark Hennen, synthesist Theo Woodward, flautist Charles Compo, bassist Jair-Rohm Parker Wells, and percussionist Jimmy Lopez joining Hooker on skins. I’ll note that Gauci, Rosenbloom, and Woodward were all a part of the ensemble for Hookers excellent Symphonie of Flowers which was released by Org Music back in 2019, and which I would argue is a sister album to this one with regards to its personnel and approach. Big Moon is a magnificently dense and infinitely listenable offering that demands subsequent spins to unpack all its detail.

The album kicks off with “What Can I Say…Human Family'', a swirling assemblage that forgoes a steady focus on any one element and rather sets the stage for the sensory overload to come with rapid smatterings of voice, flute, piano, reeds, contrabass, and electronics. The shifting ferocity of this first track resolves directly into the steady conga rhythm of “The Council Chamber '', forcing the overwhelmed brain of the listener to lock into the groove. The duration is just long enough to get your guard down before the next wave of discord is leveled via wild dueling pianos and toothy reeds. Now set in motion, Hooker swoops in beneath the free falling mélange, shaping and splintering forms as they are becoming. “Extra-Planetary Otherness” is a bouncing dynamo, driven by its polyrhythms and menacing low end undertow, Hooker accents his percussion with ecstatic shouts and hollers as electronics swarm the endearing staccato flute lines and the horns growl in response. Some continuity is maintained in the rhythm as the album drifts into the next track “The Great Lives”, swapping flute for piano, sax, and distinctly wet sounding electronics. The track seemingly fragments, disintegrating into digital confetti even as it segues into “Major Planetary Centres” with its explosions of percussion transmuting into a breathy veil of woodwinds, keys, and electronics.

“Right Speech” builds up layers of sound atop Parker Wells’ righteously funky bass line. What starts as soft piano accents and hand claps gradually picks up momentum as instruments are added. Excellent playing from Compo here (a long time colleague of William) as well as the saxophonists, and Hooker absolutely dominates the latter half with an all-out assault on his kit. On “Ring-Pass-Not” the band continues the burning pace with a notable uptick in the electronic embellishments. This one finds the whole ensemble improvising freely, the vastness of the sound almost overwhelming. “Sequence of the Form” begins in a frenzy of manic percussion, electronics, and saxophone before relaxing to explore cooler regions. “Seven Rays” tumbles from the gates in a loose bundle of group play. The congas reemerge, pulling the double bass into a dance that Hooker menaces with cymbal shrapnel while stabbing piano chords and weird electronics compete with Compo for daylight. The track stops abruptly and there is a quick flurry of percussion that segues to a brief duet b/w piano and sax. “Stations of Power” provides a reprieve from the melee with its tempered pace and slight, tuneful piano melodies that dissolve into swells of synth wash and electronics. The final track “Synthesis of Understanding” builds up a quickening swing that teeters like a drunken funambulist before finally tipping over and spilling back into free ensemble play. Around the midpoint there are simultaneous but off-set call and response interactions b/w sax and piano and flute and synth which resolve into more billowing and introspective piano chords accented with double bass’ pizzicato and flushes of woodwind before closing out the album with some wonderfully bizarre electronics. This great new album from an all-time favorite that rewards diligent listening and will command your attention once you’re under the influence of its gravity.