Some jazz bassists make the instrument sound nimble. Their walking bass lines seem to skip. They slide up and down the neck as easily as a guitarist. When William Parker, one of the leading avant-garde jazz musicians, plays the bass, you never forget that it's a massive instrument with thick strings. There is nothing sluggish in his playing. He often keeps the music bouncing along in the midst of utter noise and chaos. He swings like it's his natural state and his swinging beats feel like they're backed by the weight of a sledgehammer. Luc's Lantern (Thirsty Ear), his latest recording, is more intelligent than difficult, more accessible than avant-garde. Luc's Lantern will hopefully attract new fans to one of the strongest jazz musicians working today.

Parker adopts a more traditional jazz trio format on this album. "Morning Sunshine" starts with Parker playing a swinging figure with a rakish gliding note at the end. As Parker and drummer Michael Thompson keep the beat steady, pianist Eri Yamamoto darts in and out and finally builds to a cacophonous conclusion. "Jaki" has an almost rolling, bluesy feel to it. A bouncing bass line and more bluesy chords from Yamamoto in "Phoenix" keep the rhythm jaunty.

Parker, as one of the leaders of the New York avant-garde jazz scene, has been at the center of some of jazz's most challenging music. Luc's Lantern, while eminently accessible, is far from mainstream. Songs like the spooky "Candlesticks on the Lake," with its screeching, slow bow work from Parker, would confound many fans of the artists picked to play at Wynton Marsalis' Jazz at the Lincoln Center. On Luc's Lantern Parker creates beautiful and harmonious music that is more modern than most of the jazz recorded today.

Also posted at A Frolic of My Own.