"Even after more than 50 years of European support for advanced American Free Jazz, unique stimulation is usually apparent when New World musician perform in certain continental circumstances. Take the two CDs here. Both feature New York bass master/composer William Parker, were recorded 18 months apart in Poland (Live in Wroclove) or Italy (Navajo Sunrise) with a co-op trio or his regular working band, and each have something characteristic to offer.

Nominally the six tracks on Navajo Sunset, recorded in Monte, are directed by the versatile improvisations of Daniel Carter, who musically brainstorms on both alto saxophone and piano. As part of as many - if not more - downtown New York bands as Parker, Carter is another player who since the 1970s, has stayed true to the ideals of liberated music. Slightly younger is Rome-born, Brooklyn-based drummer Federico Ughi who completes the trio. By the same token all of the players are open to different influences, aptly demonstrated on "Gather Up", where Parker's compressed tone on shakuhachi is contrasted with the calm geniality issuing from drum-top resonations and clipping piano keys.

Conversely most of the other textures are cast in an approach which owes very much to Ornette Coleman's acoustic trios, featuring drums and double bass. From the top Carter's tonguing reed work is related to Coleman's, but his tone substitutes dry emotionalism for the other saxophonist's overt blues-base. On "Runnin' Home" for example, Carter's vibrations initially alternate between sweet and sour as Ughi's brush work and Parker's taunt plucks direct the narrative. It finally reaches a climax as the saxman introduces heightened reed bites prolonged with dog-whistle sharpness.

The extended and concluding "It Could Go" moves the interaction to a plane that rings with volatile outbursts. Here Carter's multiphonics turn from staccato bites to screeching altissimo as the drummer punctuates every statement with rugged clatters and pumps, while the bassist strums and pops his strings to propel the theme. The saxophonist also proves his reed multiplicity here when a sequence of tongue stops reveals his Bop roots, and more surprisingly, a final extended vibration shows off him playing with a butter-churned tone as sweet as Pete Brown's pre-World War Two work.

Role changing isn't confined to that tune either. Earlier, on the indicatively titled "Legacy", Parker's power thumping and Ughi's rolls and smacks maintain the stirring beat to such an extent that you half expect the trio to start playing "Don't Stop the Carnival". Carter's dual personas also contribute low-frequency piano clusters and fluttering glossolalia from his horn at suitable intervals.

[...]"-Ken Waxman, Jazz Word