Two Voices Threading an Invisible Weave
A stark, dense duo where Joe Morris's guitar and William Parker's bass weave tightly together in live improvisation.
Invisible Weave is a duo record, just guitarist Joe Morris and bassist William Parker, recorded live at the Knitting Factory in 1997. The setting is spare and the interplay is close. Morris can sound bluesy and loose one moment and far out the next, and Parker keeps pulling the music toward a deep, rooted center. Nothing here is decorative. Each player is listening hard to the other, and the sound is dense but intricate rather than cluttered.
The JazzTimes reviewer Bret Primack noted that Morris can play with a bluesy swagger or go as out as an Albert Ayler picnic, and that his sense of freedom comes out in stark, abstract ways. Jazziz's Steve Hoffje wrote that the music is deceptively dense and that listeners who settle into its sound will find many bright moments. Both descriptions fit. The record is introverted and takes some patience, but it rewards close attention.
It is a good entry point for someone curious about Morris or Parker in a small-group setting, and it sits comfortably among the more adventurous duo recordings of the late 1990s. Committed fans of free improvisation will get the most out of it. Casual listeners may want something more immediate to begin with.
Who's playing
William Parkerbass
Joe Morrisguitar
